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THE  COLLECTION  OF 
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UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


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Memorial 


OF 


ROBAH   BASCOM  KERNER,  Esq., 


CONTAINING 


SOME  OF   HIS  SPEECHES. 


EDITED    BY    HIS   WIFE, 

ASSISTED   BY  A   FRIEND. 


RICHMOND,  VA.: 

B.  F.  Johnson  Publishing  Company. 

1894, 


PrefatotB- 


The  compiler  does  not  pretend  that  the  follow- 
ing work  is  equal  to  its  subject,  nor  that  the 
best  is  said  in  the  best  way,  in  every  instance; 
but  hopes  that  what  is  here  hastily  thrown  to- 
gether may  afford  some  pleasure  and  gratifica- 
tion to  the  relatives  and  friends  of  him  whose 
memory  it  is  designed  to  honor  and  perpetuate. 

It  is  hoped,  furthermore,  that  these  pages  may 
afford  a  wholesome  stimulus  to  any  others  who 
may  devote  themselves  to  their  perusal. 


3ntro5uction. 


If  a  man  has  true  and  noble  qualities  his  wife 
will  be  sure  to  find  them  out — the  home  life  will 
reveal  them  fully  to  her.  If  he  is  cruel,  tyran- 
nical, unfaithful,  exacting,  she  cannot  fail  to 
find  this  out  also,  whether  she  will  speak  of  it 
or  not.  Perhaps,  in  the  latter  case,  it  would  be 
best  to  let  the  corroding  memory  rankle  in  her 
own  breast,  for  it  certainly  could  give  no  com- 
fort to  a  true  woman  to  parade  the  unpardon- 
able frailties  of  a  dead  husband  to  the  world, 
nor  would  the  world  be  the  better  off  for  it. 
But  when  a  wife  has  buried  the  husband  of 
her  3^outh,  who  she  knows  possessed  the  finest 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart,  who,  that  has  felt 
the  pangs  of  an  und^dng  but  lacerated  love, 
would  deny  her  the  sweet  privilege  of  setting 
forth  those  beautiful  virtues  in  tangible  form 
for  the  comfort  of  friends  and  the  emulation  of 
the  young?     I  feel  that  I  am  that  wife,  and  that 

[5] 


Robah  Bascom  Kerner  is  that  departed  husband. 
My  husband  was  meek  and  unpretentious,  and 
what  I  say  and  do  in  reference  to  him,  I  w^ish 
to  be  in  keeping  with  the  genius  and  spirit  of 
his  life;  but  need  I  crush  my  love  and  hold  in 
subjection  every  emotion  of  my  soul?  No;  I 
cannot  do  this,  but  must  abandon  myself  to 
that  service  which  is  born  of  love,  and  here  tell 
something  of  his  story  as  I  feel  it  and  know 
it  to  be.  But,  I  must  be  permitted  to  say  that 
the  execution  of  this  purpose  is  undertaken 
with  a  peculiar  combination  of  feelings.  It 
is  with  great  diffidence  I  yield  m^^self  to  the 
task,  and,  yet,  at  the  same  time,  I  spring  joy- 
fully, indeed,  even  at  the  thought  of  paying 
grateful  and  affectionate  tribute  to  a  dear  and 
honored  memor}^ 


[6] 


^t6  §omc  Ciff, 


The  most  amiable  trait  of  his  character,  as 
another  elsewhere  says,  was  his  love  for  his 
home  and  his  family.  It  may  be  truly  said  of 
him,  that,  when  he  was  not  at  his  business  he 
was  at  his  home.  Home  was  to  him  a  perfect 
haven  of  rest.  Here  clustered  the  strongest  and 
purest  affections  of  his  heart.  When  the  toils 
of  the  day  were  over,  he  at  once  sought  the 
bosom  of  his  family,  bearing  the  fragrance  of 
love,  and  cheering  and  blessing  every  member 
of  his  household.  He  had  the  happy  faculty 
of  disburdening  himself  of  the  cares  and  re- 
sponsibilities of  business,  and  devoting  himself 
to  the  cherished  recreations  of  the  home  which 
he  had  planted  and  ordered  so  well.  Up  to  the 
time  he  was  elected  ma^^or  evening  always  found 
him,  after  a  merry  chase  with  his  little  ones, 
contentedly  seated  in  slippers,  gown  and  cap 
scanning  the  newspapers  of  the  day,  or  reading 

[7] 


and  discussing  some  good  book.  It  must  not 
be  understood,  however,  that  his  fondness  for 
intellectual  pursuits  engrossed  his  entire  time, 
but  only  a  good  share  of  it.  The  social  festivi- 
ties of  the  home  were  not  neglected.  A  judi- 
cious space  of  time  must  be  allotted  to  cheerful 
conversation  on  such  topics  as  were  refining  and 
profitable  in  their  tendency.  Bible  reading  and 
devotion  to  God  was  the  daily  habit. 

Children  were  always  attractive  to  him,  and, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  they  were  always  attracted 
by  him.  To  see  him  with  them  one  would  think 
the}^  were  "  High  fellows  well  met."  Conform- 
ing himself  to  a  level  with  them,  he  would  join 
gleefully,  in  their  little  amusements,  and  go 
through  them  to  the  finish  in  such  a  pleasing, 
jolly  way,  that  the  children  would  besiege  him 
for  repetitions  almost  without  end. 

Affection  was  the  reigning  law  of  his  home 
and  enforced  his  wishes  there.  It  was  his  con- 
stant care  to  give  expression  to  his  love  for  his 
family  in  every  conceivable  way.  His  chil- 
dren's birthdays  were  never  forgotten,  but  al- 
ways remembered  with  a  nice  present,  as  were 
those  of  the  other  members  of  his  household. 

r«i 


Even  his  domestic  servants,  he  always  wanted 
remembered  with  something  to  make  them 
cheerful  and  happy  as  each  anniversary  came 

around. 

He  was  always  careful  to  give  hired  servants 
no  cause  of  complaint.  True,  he  was  strict  in 
the  requirements  he  laid  upon  them,  but  always 
paid  them  well,  and  in  his  manner  toward  them 
was  kind  and  considerate.  He  remarked  more 
than  once,  that  from  the  world,  as  a  rule,  they  re- 
ceived too  little  remuneration  for  their  services. 
He  saw  this  to  be  true,  not  only  as  to  one  sex,  but 
in  every  way  possible  took  the  stand  for  better 
wages  being  paid  to  both  man  and  woman. 

His  business  required  so  much  of  his  time 
that  he  did  very  little  promiscuous  visiting 
himself,  but  enjoyed  largely  having  his  friends 
with  him  in  his  own  home.  On  such  occasions 
he  displayed  the  finest  social  qualities.  Polite- 
ness characterized  his  every  act  and  word  and 
every  expression  of  his  face.  He  spared  no 
care  or  pains  to  show  his  regard  for  his  visitor 
and  to  make  him  feel  pleasantly.  He  was 
genial,  responsive  and  hospitable  to  the  letter. 
Nothing  that  he  could  do  was  a  trouble,  but  a 

[9] 


pleasure.  Such  was  R.  B.  Kerner  at  his  fire- 
side and  his  table. 

He  loved,  however,  to  visit  the  home  of  his 
wife's  childhood  and  his  father's  home.  The 
latter  he  never  viewed  in  any  other  light  than 
that  of  home.  Years  of  dutiful  toil,  in  other  sur- 
roundings, with  all  they  brought  and  took  away, 
did  not  rob  the  old  homestead  of  its  sweetness — 
it  was  still  home.  And  at  every  convenient 
season  he  came  to  the  place  hallowed  by  a 
mother's  prayers  and  a  mother's  death,  if  it  Avas 
but  for  a  few  hours,  to  greet  the  loved  ones 
there  and  to  refresh  himself  with  the  scenes 
that  cheered  him  in  the  morning  of  life.  And 
regularly,  as  each  old  year  receded  into  the  past, 
it  was  his  custom  to  visit  the  old  home,  and 
AVith  generous  Christmas  gifts  that  gladdened 
the  hearts  of  both  old  and  young  he  endeared 
himself  to  all  around  him. 

At  Christmas  it  was  his  idea  that  old  St. 
Nicholas  should  brighten  his  wife's  holiday  with 
a  nice  present,  and  this  was  carried  out  each 
successive  3^ear  of  his  married  life.  But  he  was 
careful  not  to   select   anything  that  could  be 

paraded  to  the  front.     The  selection  was  always 

[lo] 


a  piece  of  silver,  of  the  finest  and  best  quality, 
which  must  be  used  back  in  the  dining-room, 
where  it  would  be  of  special  service  and  plea- 
sure to  the  receiver. 

Down  in  the  depths  of  his  heart  he  had  a 
strong  aversion  for  pretension  or  an  attempt 
for  mere  display.  This  characteristic  was  so 
emphatic  in  his  nature — was  so  frequently 
manifested  under  all  circumstances — that  I 
hesitated  for  some  time  before  deciding  to  leave 
off  colors  and  assume  the  usual  habiliments  of 
the  bereaved.  I  felt  that,  notwithstanding  he 
was  in  his  grave,  yet,  in  anything  pertaining 
even  to  his  memory  I  would  still  like  to  act  in 
consistency  with  his  wishes  and  preferences. 

2ls  a  (JEljrislian 

He  was  sincere  and  could  be  fully  appreciated 
only  by  those  who  knew  him  best.  He  accepted 
the  principles  of  truth  as  revealed  in  the  Bible, 
and  practiced  them  in  daily  life  without  undue 
show.  While  he  loved  this  present  life,  and  with 
due  restraints  tasted  it  deeply,  yet  his  moral 
courage,  which  never  forsook   him,  made  him 


ready  to  face  the  inevitable  at  any  moment  with 
an  unruffled  spirit.  His  religious  faith  was  as 
simple  as  it  was  profound ;  it  supported  him  in 
ever}^  ordeal  of  life  and  sweetened  every  cup  of 
joy  and  hope  he  quaffed. 

He  was  an  earnest  member  of  the  Moravian 
Church,  and  loved  it  as  the  church  of  his  child- 
hood. But  he  made  no  parade  of  his  religion, 
for,  in  this  as  in  all  things  else,  he  was  simple 
and  sincere.  Ordinarily,  when  requested  to 
take  a  prominent  part  in  a  service  of  more  pre- 
tentious religious  nature — such  as  making  ad- 
dresses for  Christian  associations — I  have  felt 
worried  at  his  sending  a  refusal.  On  such  occa- 
sions I  have  known  him  to  say:  "In  doing  my 
daily  duty,  I  am  serving  my  Master  best."  He 
seemed  to  fear  that  in  his  relationship  great 
prominence  in  religious  movements  would  be 
construed  into  an  effort  on  his  part  to  secure 
mercenary  or  political  effect. 

^miflbilitg. 

That  Mr.  Kerner  had  his  faults  it  must  not 
be  denied,  for  he  was  human;  but  so  perfect 

[12] 


was  his  mastery  of  himself  that  it  would  not 
be  easy  to  point  them  out,  even  if  an  effort  were 
made  to  do  so.  Indeed,  to  the  eye  of  love,  at 
least,  the  galaxy  of  his  virtues  so  arra3'ed  his 
entire  manhood  that  whatever  defects  belonged 
to  him  a  frail  mortal  might  hesitate  to  put  on 
permanent  record. 

While  he  had  his  mark  set  high  and  was 
ambitious  to  make  his  life  a  success  in  every 
paricular,  still  no  acquirement  of  money  or 
property,  or  bestowment  of  honors,  seemed  to 
elevate  him  in  his  own  estimation — he  had  the 
philosophy  of  appearing  the  same,  however  his 
circumstances  might  alter. 

His  humility  was  always  conspicuous.  He 
had  none  of  that  bigotry  and  intelerance  which 
may  sometimes  be  mistaken  for  courage  and 
wisdom  in  both  religious  and  political  circles. 
He  seemed  to  think  that  respect  was  a  kind 
of  mutual  commodity  Avhich  should  pass  from 
man  to  man  on  equal  terms. 

He  was  not  one  of  those  sensitive  characters 
who  is  always  looking  out  for  insults,  and  hence 
alwaj^s  receiving  them.  He  was  slow  to  take  of- 
fense, and  slower  to  give  it.     He  bore  malice 

[13] 


against  no  one,  but  would  leave  entirely  alone 
those  whom  he  knew  to  be  his  unrelenting  ene- 
mies. 

He  wished  to  climb  himself,  but  not  to  the 
degradation  of  others;  he  rejoiced  to  see  them 
also  on  the  upward  move.  He  dragged  no 
man  down,  but  applied  his  honest  efforts  to 
lift  many  up;  hence  it  may  be  said  with  em- 
phasis, he  was  philanthropic,  broad  and  liberal 
minded ;  he  respected  the  honest  views  and 
principles  of  others,  looked  at  things  on  the 
bright  side,  and  prophesied  great  possibilities 
for  his  age  and  country. 

As  to  the  humorous  side  of  his  character  but 
little  needs  to  be  said.  That  he  had  a  quiet  vein 
of  humor  in  his  mental  constitution  was  clear 
to  the  most  casual  observer.  But  this  quality 
of  his  mind  did  not  descend  into  mere  witti- 
cism. He  enjoyed  a  good  joke,  a  chaste  story, 
a  bright  sally  of  wit,  provided  there  was  left  no 
sting  behind  it ;  but  often  such  things  are  as 
depressing  to  one  as  they  are  exhilarating  to 
another,  and  to  Avantonly  crush  the  feelings  of 
even  the  humblest  was  not  in  his  nature.  It  is 
not  too  much  to  say  he  was  amiable  and  cheery 

[H] 


in  all  his  bearing  and  disposition,  and  that  it 
was  his  desire  to  make  every  one  feel  more  light- 
hearted  when  he  parted  with  him  than  when  he 
first  met  him. 

<5is  Hnprctcntiottsucss. 

Mr.  Kerner's  simple  modesty  showed  itself 
in  everything  he  turned  his  hand  to.  To  have 
his  name  appear  in  print,  except  in  cases  of 
absolute  necessity,  or  to  have  pictures  of  him- 
self scattered  promiscuously  was  an  abhorrence. 
It  was  with  great  reluctance  that  he  would  con- 
sent for  even  his  nearest  and  best  friends  to 
have  his  likeness. 

During  his  Mayoralty  an  enlarged  portrait  of 
himself  was  sent  as  a  present  to  the  town  by 
the  artist  mainly  to  advertise  his  work.  Through 
thoughtlessness,  it  is  supposed,  on  the  part  of 
the  artist,  it  Avas  so  directed  as  to  come  imme- 
diately to  Mr,  Kerner's  house.  Finding  the 
picture  there  on  coming  in  from  his  office,  he 
very  thoughtfully  said:  "  If  the  secretary  or 
President  Wilson  ever  calls  for  that  picture  he 
is  to  have  it,  otherwise,  kindling  wood  can  it  be 
cut  into  so  far  as  I  care  for  it."     The  town  sec- 

[15] 


retary,  knowing  nothing  of  its  whereabouts,  did 
not  send,  as  a  matter  of  course,  nor  did  Presi- 
dent Wilson,  for  the  same  reason.  The  delicacy 
of  pushing  a  likeness  of  himself  into  promi- 
nence he  could  not  overcome  ;  and  it  was  never 
hung,  nor  was  city  hall  ever  made  recipient  of 
the  work  intended  for  it  until  after  his  death, 
when  the  writer  felt  that  it  but  voiced  the  senti- 
ments of  his  friends  at  large,  and  readily  con- 
sented to  the  request  of  a  member  of  the  city 
board  to  place  it  there. 

Couc  for  f  is  Itinsmen. 

With  such  traits  as  above  noted — such  a 
bright  disposition  and  such  engaging  manners — 
is  it  any  wonder  that  he  was  almost  the  idol  of 
the  family,  and  that  his  memory  will  ever  re- 
main sacred  to  them?  And  well  may  they  so 
regard  him,  for  no  one  ever  showed  greater  love 
than  he  for  the  people  bearing  his  own  name 
and  of  his  own  blood.  The  most  remote  of 
them  were  affectionately  regarded.  His  heart 
was  large  enough  to  embrace  them  all.  And 
in  all  their  embarrassments,  it  was  his  willing 

[i6] 


l)art  to  aid  and  council,  to  stand  by  and  protect; 
firm  in  his  own  decisions  and  requirements, 
yet  always  generous,  kind  and  considerate.  If, 
from  any  cause,  there  were  unfortunate  ones 
among  them,  he  loved  to  help  them;  and  more 
than  once  shifted  their  responsibilities  to  his 
own  shoulder,  and  relieved  the  distressed  ones 
from  the  burdens  that  were  ready  to  crush  them. 
And  so  well  planned  were  these  friendly  acts  of 
his,  that  almost  without  an  exception  they 
proved  for  the  best  to  all  concerned.  In  a  word, 
if  trouble  of  any  kind  befell  one  of  his  relatives 
he  Avould  assist  him,  as  the  case  demanded,  pro- 
fessionally, financiall}',  or  otherwise,  to  the  full 
extent  of  his  power.  Even  those  a  great  deal 
more  advanced  in  age  than  himself,  he  has  ably 
and  lovingly  lifted  out  of  financial  distress,  and 
made  such  arrangements  that  they  should  still 
be  protected  from  trouble  of  this  nature, 
though  he  himself  should  precede  them  to  the 
grave. 

In  this  connection  I  will  mention  one  other 
fact:  So  ardent  was  his  love  for  the  members  of 
his  immediate  family  relationship  that  he  felt 
they  had  the  same  right  to  his  table  and  fireside 

[  17] 


that  he  had  himself,  and  again  and  again  he 
impressed  this  fact  upon  them. 

^n  Jncibent. 

But  it  must  not  be  understood  that  this  warm 
affection  for  relatives  was  of  a  selfish  nature, 
and  that  the  subject  of  this  sketch  did  not  pos- 
sess that  largeness  of  heart  which  went  out  in 
sympathy  for  all  others — even   strangers.     As 
an  illustration  of  his  broad,  liberal-hearted  na- 
ture I  submit  the  following  incident:  We  were 
passing  on  the  sidewalk  of  a  street  where  lay 
three  street-car  lines.     The   cars  were  running 
frequently  over  the  point  directly  in  front  of  us 
in  order  to  accommodate  the  crowded  city.  Sud- 
denly, a  lady  held  fast  by  the  crowd  on  the  car 
farthest   from  us  lost  her  hat,  which  was  car- 
ried back  a  long  distance  by  the  wind,  seemingly 
unnoticed  by  any  one  save  the  owner  and  our- 
selves.    Quick  as  the  act  Mr.  Kerner  grasped 
his  own  hat,  watched  carefully  up  and  down  the 
tracks  for  the  moving  cars,  sprang  forward  and 
placed  in  the  lady's  possession  the  wayward  ap- 
pendage, which  she  expected  never  to  see  again, 
to  her  evident  gratification. 

[  iS] 


ifirmnese. 

Mr.  Keener  was  a  clear-cut,  well  defined 
character.  He  was  not  one  thing  to-day  and 
something  else  to-morrow.  He  Avas  knoiun — 
his  friends  could  calculate  on  him — they  knew 
where  to  find  him.  He  sought  to  know  the  line 
of  duty,  and  basing  his  convictions  on  this  line, 
formulated  his  principles  in  keeping  with  his 
convictions.  His  life  was  shaped  in  accordance 
with  his  own  ideas  of  what  this  life  should  be. 
He  believed  that  dut}^  is  always  practicable. 
Hence,  he  scarcely  knew  what  it  was  to  fail  in 
anything  he  undertook.  He  reached  the  mark 
at  which  he  aimed,  even  at  the  expense  of  stren- 
uous efi'orts.  His  purpose  was  a  prophesy  of 
the  accomplishment.  But  with  all  his  firmness 
and  decision  he  was  careful  not  to  be  off'ensively 
stubborn.  He  was  ever  ready  to  yield  grace- 
fully when  convinced,  but  otherwise  as  immova- 
ble as  adamant. 

Perhaps  a  deeper  insight  into  his  unswerving 
nature  may  be  obtained  by  giving  here  an  actual 
occurrence.  A  man  whom  he  had  trusted  as  a 
brother  since  their  school  days,  at  a  critical  pe- 

r^9] 


riod,  turned  squarely  against  him.  His  feelings 
were  painfully  crushed  by  the  act.  However, 
the  opportunity  soon  presented  itself  for  him  to 
take  a  stand  against  or  for  this  man.  After  a 
little  cool  deliberation  he  said:  "  I  am  going  to 
stand  right  up  for  him,  and  I  will  tell  him  one 
of  these  days  I  never  desert  my  friends  because 
they  have  acted  the  traitor  to  me." 

^s  a  Man  of  JBnsinese, 

Me.  Keener  was  careful,  painstaking  and 
thoughtful.  He  applied  himself  closely.  His 
plans  were  well  laid  and  his  work  systemati- 
cally arranged.  The  work  at  hand  he  dis- 
patched promptly,  leaving  nothing  for  to-mor- 
row that  should  be  done  to-day.  He  delighted 
in  the  work  peculiar  to  his  profession,  and 
when  the  volume  of  his  business  accumulated 
on  his  hands  to  that  extent  which  excited  the 
misgivings  of  his  friends  as  to  his  physical 
ability  to  stand  it,  he  never  seemed  to  think 
that  he  might  undertake  too  much,  but  was 
always  ready  for  one  thing  more.  Nor  does  it 
appear  that  in   this    propensity  he  was  indis- 

[20] 


creet,  for  he  never  seemed  to  be  hurried  in  busi- 
ness to  a  degree  bordering  on  distraction,  but 
apparently  had  plenty  of  time  for  the  matter  in 
hand,  and  that,  too,  though  the  thing  in  itself 
was  of  minor  importance.  He  had  the  happy 
art  of  gliding  smoothly  from  one  thing  to 
another,  as  occasion  might  require  ;  and  what- 
ever was  under  thought  or  discussion,  of  how- 
ever small  moment,  absorbed  his  attention,  for 
the  time  being,  just  the  same  as  the  greatest 
affairs  committed  to  his  management.  To  his 
care  of  the  details  of  business  may  be  attrib- 
uted, no  doubt,  much  of  the  success  he  achieved. 
When  he  made  money  he  was  free  to  spend  it 
and  careful  to  keep  it.  Though  generous  to  a 
fault  in  all  things  where  money  spent  would  be 
of  real  pleasure  or  benefit  to  his  fellow-man, 
yet,  from  the  very  beginning,  he  was  cautious 
not  to  sink  his  earnings  in  numberless  ways 
which  the  young  of  to-day  are  apt  to  do  when 
first  married  and  starting  out  in  life.  In  eco- 
nomics his  motto  was  :  "  Live  so  as  to  make  the 
interest  on  your  means  support  you."  He 
would  sometimes  say  :  "  It  is  not  simply  in  the 
making,  but   in    the    saving  of  dollars  which 

[21] 


makes  a  man  of  influence  and  saves  him  in  a 
rainy  day."  Or,  again:  "  Money  is  necessary 
to  a  man  in  order  that  he  may  wield  an  influ- 
ence over  his  fellow-man  or  be  of  much  service 
to  him." 

Citerotnre, 

He  spent  over  one  thousand  dollars  on  his 
miscellaneous  and  law  library  together,  and,  of 
course,  he  highly  prized  it  and  gave  due  dili- 
gence to  its  keeping.  His  system  in  arranging 
and  taking  care  of  these  books  I  have  never 
seen  in  any  other.  His  plan  of  labeling  and 
numbering,  and  form  of  dating  entry  and  with- 
drawal, and  when  out,  where  at,  must  have  been 
entireh'  original.  He  could  always  locate  his 
book,  whether  in  or  out  of  the  library. 

He  was  passionately  fond  of  reading,  but  not 
always  books  of  his  profession.  When  at  home, 
within  doors  he  confined  himself  much  to  gen- 
eral reading  in  preference  to  any  other  diver- 
sion. He  was  methodical  in  this  particular,  as  in 
all  others.  When  he  took  his  newspaper  in  hand, 
he  began  at  the  first  and  read  thoughtfully,  but 
rapidly,  scanning  its  pages  to  the  last  column. 

[22] 


He  also  procured  and  read  the  best  standard 
literature— the  purest  and  most  elevating  works 
extant;  but  it  was  his  custom  when  traveling 
among  strangers  to  secure  lighter  matter  to 
relieve  his  m'ind  from  idleness  and  entertain 
the  passing  hours,  once  remarking:  "A  good 
book  is  the  best  of  company." 

His  advice  to  the  young  was  to  read  a  good 
novel  rather  than  not  read  at  all.  On  one  occa- 
sion in  his  early  boyhood  he  was  reprimanded 
by  his  sister  in  the  presence,  of  their  mother, 
for  reading  a  novel.  The  prudent  mother  said: 
"  For  him  to  be  gadding  on  the  street,  where  I 
know  not,  would  be  a  worse  thing."  This  re- 
mark made  a  lasting  impression  on  him;  and 
may  we  not  readily  suppose  that  this,  coupled 
with  the  reprimand  from  a  pious,  thoughtful 
sister,  had  no  little  to  do  in  shaping  his  entire 
life.  The  one  would  open  his  young  mind  to  the 
danger  of  a  corrupt  literature,  and  the  other  to  the 
still  greater  danger  of  idle  and  vicious  habits. 

Mr.  Kerner  encouraged  the  young  in  all  possi- 
ble ways  to  read.  Twice  he  presented  the  Sun- 
day-school of  his  church  with  small  libraries; 
and  for  nine  years  he  never  allowed  a  Christmas 

[23] 


to  go  by  without  gladdening  the  hearts  of  these 
children  with  gifts  of  a  literary  character,  and 
that  at  considerable  expense.  These  gifts  were 
always  bestowed  as  coming  from  Santa  Clans; 
and  pains  taking  for  them  to  be  left,  for  each 
child,  right  where  the  kindly  old  visitor  usually 
deposits  his  presents;  so  that  the  credit  for  them 
could  be  given  no  one  outside  the  household. 
Also,  his  wards,  who  were  more  nearly  related 
to  him,  never  failed  to  receive  from  his  hand, 
annually,  some  costly  present  in  connection 
with  some  good  book. 

iHagoraits. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  not  an  office- 
seeker  in  the  sense  which  is  often  attached  to 
the  term.  He  had  a  laudable  ambition,  was 
aspiring  but  did  not  believe  in  himself  or  any 
one  else,  clamoring  for  place  and  power.  He 
acted  on  the  principle  that  when  a  man  has  the 
parts  and  capacity  which  qualify  him  for  office, 
his  countrymen  will  then  call  for  him,  and,  in 
this  case  it  is  his  privilege  and  his  duty,  as  a 
good  citizen,  to  accept  the  call. 

[24] 


In  the  year  1888  his  name  was  mentioned  for 
mayor  of  the  city  of  Winston.  Realizing  how 
many  duties  he  already  had  to  call  him  from 
home,  and  that  his  law  practice  kept  him  so 
constantly  employed,  I  very  bitterly  opposed  his 
running.  In  answer  to  my  protest  he  replied  : 
"  It  certainly  seems  ungrateful  to  the  good  peo- 
ple here  for  you  to  so  oppose  my  running."  I 
had  never  before  looked  at  it  in  this  light,  and 
now  felt  it  my  duty  to  yield  to  the  demand. 
This  may  serve  as  an  illustration  of  his  view  of 
office — a  kind  of  reciprocal  good-will  between 
the  man  honored  and  the  men  who  honor  him. 
And  thus  it  was  with  him  always.  As  his  fel- 
low citizens  promoted  him,  the  warm  affections 
of  his  heart  went  out  towards  them,  and  he 
strove  to  make  his  every  act  a  blessing  to  all 
concerned. 

His  friends  can  never  know  how  overflowing 
his  gratitude  was  to  them  for  so  many  times 
honoring  him  with  public  duties  and  public 
trusts.  He  endeavored  to  prove  this  to  them 
by  his  works.  He  spared  no  efforts  to  avail 
himself  of  opportunities  to  serve  them  ardu- 
ously and  acceptably. 

[25] 


(S)rdeals  of  ^\b  Administration. 

The  stand  which  he  took  in  regard  to  the  city 
poor  during  the  severe  cold  of  January,  1893, 
is  worthy  of  special  note.  The  destitution  and 
suffering  of  this  class  became  alarming.  The 
cry  for  help  came  repeatedly  and  often — came 
from  multitudes  who  had  to  be  restrained,  even 
by  police  force  during  the  severest  period.  As 
Chief  Executive  of  the  city,  he  felt  the  weight 
of  the  responsibilit}^  and  addressed  himself 
squarely  to  the  necessity  of  the  case.  So  great 
was  the  demand  for  help  that  private  contribu- 
tions had  to  be  resorted  to,  and  this,  to  a  large 
extent.  Mr.  Kerner  not  only  urged  the  benefi- 
cent duty  of  the  hour  with  persistency  upon 
others,  many  of  whom  were  willing  subjects, 
but  cut  down  into  the  file  of  his  own  mite  to 
such  a  depth  that  a  bystander  would  have 
thought  it  too  liberal  for  one  of  his  means.  As 
a  result  of  this  united  effort,  be  it  said  to  the 
honor  of  Winston  and  her  generous  adminis- 
tration, the  sufferers  were  helped  to  a  degree 
second,  in  a  similar  donation,  to  that  of  no  town 
of  its  size  in  the  State. 

[26] 


tDinston  iFiree, 

In  the  fall  of  1891  fire  after  fire,  at  short  in- 
tervals, distressed  the  citizens  of  Winston.  The 
authorities  had  taken  many  steps,  in  various 
waj^s,  to  stop  them,  but  all  to  no  purpose.  Public 
opinion  grew  sensitive  and  quite  suspicious  of 
criminality.  For  a  long  while  Winston's  ma^^or 
would  not  believe  that  the  pleasant  city,  over 
which  he  presided,  had  such  a  vicious  enem3\ 
But  at  last  he,  too,  became  uneasy,  and  fearing 
there  was  an  underlying  incendiary  cause  for  so 
man}^  fires,  he  procured  the  services  of  two  New 
York  detectives  to  ferret  out  the  perpetrators. 
But,  again  the  fire  bells  rang  loud  and  long,  and 
again  he  was  off  for  the  fire  with  the  determina- 
tion, which  alwavs  characterized  him,  to  do 
what  he  could.  After  being  at  this  fire  for 
some  time  other  bells  rang  announcing  a  fire  in 
quite  a  different  part  of  the  town.  By  this  time 
he  was  well-nigh  exhausted,  but  he  secured  a 
carriage  and  pushed  to  the  new  scene  of  confla- 
gration. After  this  was  well  under  control  he 
drove  out  home  to  supper.  But  he  had  not 
much   more  than   seated   himself  at  his  table 

[27] 


when  the  bells  rang  again,  and  again  he  was 
gone.  By  this  time  crowds  of  people,  wild  with 
excitement,  were  collecting  around  the  court- 
house square,  near  which  was  the  raging  fire. 
All  was  confusion.  Firemen  ran,  the  engines 
roared,  a  babel  of  voices  rent  the  air,  and  bells 
rang  all  over  the  city.  Indignation  ran  high 
against  the  black  race.  Still  the  excited  popu- 
lace were  rapidly  congregating  on  every  corner 
and  every  conceivable  place.  Just  at  this  junc- 
ture some  citizen  cried  out:  "  Mavor  Kerner, 
our  town  is  being  burnt  up  by  the  negroes,  what 
shall  we  do?"  Mr.  Kerner  at  once  felt  that 
great  danger  was  imminent  and,  like  a  flash, 
sprang  upon  the  nearest  goods  box  and,  lifting 
his  voice  like  a  trumpet,  called  to  the  multitude 
to  "Disperse  at  once;  any  remaining  on  the 
streets  will  be  immediately  sent  to  jail."  The 
streets  were  cleared  instantlv,  and  outside  the 
noise  of  the  fire  companies  all  was  quiet.  The 
firemen  could  now  do  more  effective  work,  and 
in  a  short  time  the  flames  were  subdued. 

The  military  was  now  sent  out,  and  one  hun- 
dred extra  policemen  deputized  all  of  whom 
walked  the  streets  the  rest  of  the  night  guard- 

[28] 


ing  the  property  and  lives  of  the  citizens  who 
were  now  too  much  alarmed  to  go  to  sleep. 

R.  B.  Kerner  was  true  to  every  cause  he  es- 
poused. As  mayor  he  studied  to  promote  the 
best  interests  of  the  city  of  Winston.  As  he 
felt  and  saw  its  welfare  to  be  so  he  was  actuated. 
He  was  proud  of  every  shovelful  of  sand,  or 
planted  stone,  which  added  to  its  beauty  or  util- 
ity.  He  rejoiced  in  its  progress  and  growth,  and 
in  all  the  phases  of  its  prosperity.  May  it  not  be 
hoped  that,  with  so  much  at  heart  for  the  town, 
together  with  the  earnest  efforts  devoted  to  its 
interests,  that  he  did  not  fail  to  do  it  for  some 
lasting  good?  And  it  is  a  pleasing  thought,  and 
one  for  gratitude,  that  his  fellow  townsmen  have 
so  fully  endorsed  his  acts  and  paid  such  high 
tributes  to  his  memor}^  as  will  be  found  else- 
where in  this  little  volume. 

^bbitional  Satis  €onnecteb  toitl)  §iQ  |)ubiic  (Career. 

When  Mr.  Kerner  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
he  at  once  entered  into  a  good  practice,  and  as 
a  young  lawyer  made  a  fine  impression  on  the 
public  mind.     In  1883  he  was  elected  Solicitor 

[29] 


of  the  Inferior  Court,  which  was  then  in  vogue 
in  Forsyth  county.  And  not  only  in  matters 
pertaining  to  his  profession  was  he  highly 
esteemed,  but  was  looked  upon  as  having  the 
qualifications  and  characteristics  which  fitted 
him  for  other  fields  of  public  service.  As  an 
evidence  of  the  confidence  reposed  in  him,  he 
soon  became  guardian  for  no  less  than  sixteen 
children,  having  entire  control  of  their  means 
for  a  number  of  years. 

Not  longer  than  one  year  after  he  began  his 
law  practice  a  representative  to  the  State  Legis- 
lature was  to  be  elected  by  the  citizens  of  For- 
syth county.  In  urging  his  name  for  this  posi- 
tion a  friend  used  the  following  language:  "The 
wish  of  the  people  is  for  a  young  man  of  more 
than  ordinar}^  ability,  of  sound  democratic  prin- 
ciples, gifted  with  a  flow  of  eloquent  words,  but 
not  garrulous;  energetic,  reliable,  and  with 
enough  personal  interest  at  stake  to  throw  off 
all  suspicion  of  seeking  the  office  for  the  mere 
honor  it  may  confer;  a  man  of  education,  good 
and  solid,  and  with  a  knowledge  of  what  our 
present  educational  institutions  need.  Now, 
has  the  party  such  a  man  in  its  ranks?     It  has 

[30] 


in  the  person  of  R.  B.  Kerner,  Esq.  Being 
raised  in  the  county,  he  is  familiar  with  the 
wants  and  needs  of  the  people.  He  is  a  young 
man,  who,  by  indefatigable  zeal  and  application, 
has  lifted  himself  to  a  height  in  the  regard  of 
many  who  know  him  which  any  young  man 
may  well  feel  proud  of  and  many  an  old  one 
envy.  A  staunch  democrat,  simple  in  his 
habits,  temperate  in  all  things,  scholarly  in  his 
tastes,  and  rapidly  rising  in  his  profession,  he 
is  undoubtedly  the  most  suitable  man  for  the 
House  of  Commons  that  Forsyth  county 
holds." 

He  soon  grew  prominent  in  the  more  imme- 
diate political  circles,  and  made  some  telling 
speeches  on  the  party  issues  of  the  day.  He 
served  as  chairman  of  the  County  Democratic 
Executive  Committee  for  a  number  of  years 
and  until  he  resigned. 

But  to  still  further  show  the  public  estimate 
put  upon  him,  let  us  for  a  moment  return  to 
him  in  the  capacity  of  a  lawyer.  In  the  early 
stage  of  his  practice  he  was  engaged  in  a  mur- 
der case  tried  in  the  town  of  Winston.  Of  his 
effort  at  the  bar  on  this  occasion  the  leading 

[3'] 


county  paper  said  :  "  He  won  for  himself  golden 
opinions  from  all  who  heard  his  speech.  He 
undertook  the  defence  without  hope  of  reward 
or  the  prohability  of  success,  and  in  the  face  of 
popular  opinion,  but  b}^  his  untiring  energy,  his 
stirring  appeals  for  sympathy,  his  clear  and 
comprehensive  rehearsals  of  the  evidence,  and 
his  eloquent  perorations  in  behalf  of  mercy,  he 
turned  the  current  of  opinion  and  made  con- 
viction doubtful.  It  was  after  the  jury  had  been 
out  a  part  of  two  daj^s  and  a  night  that  they 
brought  in  a  verdict  of  guilty.  Mr.  Kerner 
spoke  about  three  hours,  and  riveted  the  atten- 
tion of  all  present  during  the  entire  speech. 
The  case  goes  to  the  Supreme  Court,  and  should 
a  new  trial  be  granted  a  change  in  the  verdict 
will  in  all  probability  be  the  result." 

In  1885  he  was  elected  Town  Commissioner. 
His  associates  in  office  elected  him  secretary  of 
their  board  and  city  treasurer,  and  also  com- 
missioner of  the  graded  school.  For  his  ser- 
vices as  secretary  and  treasurer  he  received  the 
complimentary  salary  of  three  hundred  dol- 
lars— a  greater  sum  than  that  which  was  at  the 
time  paid  to  the  Mayor. 

[32] 


A  great  deal  of  the  upbuilding  of  Winston 
and  its  material  growth  was  brought  about  by 
the  wise  action  of  this  board.  Many  timely  or- 
dinances were  enacted  which  stimulated  Win- 
ston to  a  degree  of  progress  which  was  the  pride 
of  its  citizenship  and  a  matter  of  comment  in 
the  State  at  large.  As  a  bit  of  history,  at  least 
of  local  interest,  a  few  of  these  acts  are  con- 
cisely noted.  During  this  administration  a 
special  tax  was  levied  on  every  purchaser  of  leaf 
tobacco,  and  graduated  according  to  the  quan- 
tity bought.  The  debt  of  the  town  for  the  La 
France  fire-engine  was  paid.  An  act  was  passed 
requiring  individuals  to  pave  the  sidewalks  ad- 
joining their  property,  to  improve  the  public 
roads  near  Winston,  to  lay  at  least  three  miles 
of  main  and  service  water  pipe,  to  release  the 
military  company  from  poll-tax,  and  the  im- 
mense hill  near  the  graded  school  building  was 
lowered  at  least  ten  feet,  and  Fourth  street 
graded.  Many  other  important  acts  of  this 
board  added  to  the  material  and  moral  well-being 
of  the  city. 

On  February  23, 1892,  Mr.  Kerner  was  elected 
Mayor  by  a  flattering  vote,  and  being  just  thirty- 
i!  [  33  ] 


two  years  and  six  months  old,  was  the  3^oungest 
executive  in  the  history  of  Winston.  He  was  in- 
augurated with  a  pleasing  and  complimentary 
formality.  From  the  records  of  this  occasion 
is  taken  the  following  extract:  "He  thanked  the 
aldermen  for  the  honor  conferred  upon  him, 
and  made  a  nice  little  speech  in  his  usual  happy 
style,  pledging  his  best  efforts  for  the  future  ad- 
vancement of  the  city,  and  upon  taking  his 
seat  declared  the  board  ready  for  the  transaction 
of  business." 

To  give  minute  details  of  the  good  work  of 
this  administration  would  perhaps  be  of  little 
or  no  interest  here,  but  to  show  how  active  and 
progressive  it  was,  a  few  extracts  from  the  re- 
cords are  presented:  The  curbing  and  mac- 
adamizing the  principal  streets,  and  the  cutting 
down  and  grading  Summit  street  and  a  part  of 
Fifth  street.  The  prohibition  of  opening  stores 
on  the  Sabbath,  either  for  giving  away  or  sell- 
ing goods,  except  in  cases  of  necessity.  Drug- 
stores permitted  to  be  open  all  the  time,  but  not 
allowed  on  the  Sabbath  day  to  sell  tobacco,  ci- 
gars, soda  water,  mineral  water,  but  medicines 
only.     The    interdiction  of  prize-fighting   and 

[  34  ] 


sparring  matches  with  heavy  penalties.  The 
passing  of  thirty  or  more  market  ordinances. 
An  act  to  enable  the  corporation  to  own  and 
control  the  water-works.  Various  fire  ordinances 
were  passed  embracing  an  ordinance  connecting 
Winston  with  Salem  fire-alarm  system.  Ordi- 
nances resulting  in  the  organization  of  fire  com- 
panies and  a  hook  and  ladder  company.  The 
purchasing  from  Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y.,  one  of  the 
finest  and  best  equipped  fire-engines  ever  brought 
south.  But  perhaps  the  crowning  act  of  Mr. 
Kerner's  administration  was  the  completion  of 
Winston's  fine  and  magnificent  City  Hall  and 
market  house — a  building  of  which  every  citi- 
zen of  the  town  may  well  feel  proud. 

In  all  these  laws  an  enterprises,  together  with 
many  other  matters  of  moment,  Mr.  Kerner 
felt  the  deepest  interest  and  addressed  himself 
with  his  characteristic  energy  to  their  unfailing 
enforcement  and  execution. 

And  it  is  a  pleasure  to  record  the  harmoni- 
ous relationship  that  all  the  time  existed  be- 
tween their  Mayor  and  the  Board  of  Aldermen. 
The}^  delighted  to  respect  and  honor  him. 
Their  kindly  and  generous  support  is  a  mat- 

[  .35  ] 


ter  for  lasting  gratitude,  and  is  here  expressed 
as  the  best  return  that  can  now  be  tendered 
them. 

One  particular  honor  they  bestowed  on  him, 
while  3^et  living,  is  worthy  of  special  note  just 
here.  On  the  above  mentioned  superb  fire- 
engine  they  had  his  name  beautifully  engraved. 
As  the  matter  now  is  this  is  a  lasting  and  appre- 
ciative tribute  to  his  memory,  and  ever  here- 
after, as  this  powerful  machine  shall  go  forth  to 
combat  the  dreaded  monster  fire,  though  he  can- 
not be  Avith  it  in  person  to  aid,  as  he  was  always 
so  faithful  to  do,  yet,  in  solid  steel  characters 
his  name  is  with  it,  and  must  there  stand  as  a 
testimonial  both  to  the  high  esteem  accorded 
him,  and  of  his  devotion  to  his  adopted  city. 

i^io  Cast  Sickness. 

At  one  time  during  his  long  attack  of  sick- 
ness he  grew  much  better — his  physicians  pro- 
nouncing him  entirely  free  from  fever,  and,  in 
fact,  several  times  in  a  sub-normal  condition. 
He  got  able  to  leave  the  sick  chamber,  to  take 
short   rides,    and    gradually   recuperated    suffi- 


ciently  to  go  to  his  office  and  there  superintend 
some  work  he  wanted  done. 

After  an  elapse  of  about  eighteen  days  he  be- 
came strong  enough  and  went  to  the  home  of 
his  father,  in  Kernersville,  hoping  that  the 
change  would  recreate  him  in  both  body  and 
mind,  little  thinking  that  his  life-work  was  so 
near  to  its  close.  But  here  trouble  came  dou- 
ble-handed. His  disease  soon  returned  with 
great  and  renewed  power,  and  in  the  midst  of 
it  all,  on  September  3d,  occurred  the  death  of 
our  little  one,  Francis  Lanier.  From  the  effects 
of  this  severe  ordeal  I  am  sure  he  never  recov- 
ered, although  every  precaution  possible  was 
used  asrainst  excitement  of  anv  kind. 

Life  was  most  dear  to  him,  and  to  human 
understanding  there  were  the  best  of  reasons  it 
should  be  so.  Just  rising  into  the  prime  of 
manhood,  with  a  lucrative  business  in  hand  ; 
with  a  well-equipped  and  comfortable  home  in 
a  flourishing  little  city,  where  he  was  surrounded 
by  a  host  of  competent  friends  always  ready  to 
encourage  and  honor  him;  and  with  a  young 
family,  who  beyond  question  was  the  delight 
and  pride  of  his   heart,  and  to  whom  he  was 

[37] 


attached  as  strongly  as  human  love  could  bind 
him,  is  it  anj^  wonder  that  the  prospect  of  an 
immediate  severance  from  all  these  precious, 
hopeful  environments  should  cast  a  shadow 
over  him,  and  that  under  it  all  he  should  seem 
sad?  But,  while  this  is  so,  there  is  one  sweet 
thought,  as  a  thread  of  gold,  running  through 
it  all — he  was  fully  resigned  and  gave  comfort- 
ing testimony  as  to  his  future  state.  He  spoke 
of  his  sainted  mother,  to  whom  his  devotion 
was  most  beautiful  and  whose  memory  was  so 
sweet  to  him,  and  said:  "I  will  soon  be  with 
her." 

During  all  this  sad  period  he  manifested 
supreme  and  childlike  confidence  in  his  reli- 
gious faith.  When  delicately  approached  on 
the  subject  of  prayer  he  promptly  responded : 
"Yes,  I  am  praying,  but  I  do  not  excite  myself 
with  long  prayers,  for  that  would  run  my  fever 
up,  but  the  good  Lord  understands  me." 

And  even  in  this  dark  and  tr^^ing  hour  he  did 
not  forget  to  be  himself.  He  had  always  felt 
that  it  was  his  part  to  comfort  and  console  his 
loved  ones  in  seasons  of  distress  and  grief.  But 
now  when    his    dving   moments  were  fleeting 

[38] 


away  it  would  seem  that  he  himself  was  the  one 
to  be  comforted.  This  did  not  seem  to  be  his 
view  of  the  situation,  but,  knowing  that  the 
very  heartstrings  of  her  whom  he  was  leaving 
would  be  wrenched  and  torn  with  intense  an- 
guish, with  deepest  sympathy  he  said :  "I  did  not 
think  I  would  bring  you  to  this;  but  life  is  short, 
Jennie,  and  we  will  soon  be  together  again." 

After  skilled  medical  aid  had  proved  unavail- 
ing, and  his  grief-strickened  and  aged  father, 
feeling  powerless  to  help  him  further,  showed 
his  emotion,  the  dvina;  son  said  to  him:  "You 
have  done  the  best  3^ou  could  ;  meet  me  in 
heaven. 

j^is  lUcatl). 

It  was  hard  for  those  to  whom  he  was  nearest 
and  dearest  to  realize  that  death  was  about  to 
sever  him  from  them.  Nor  could  they  do  this 
until  all  possible  efforts  to  restore  him  had  been 
made  without  effect.  But  at  last  they  saw  that 
the  worst  must  come,  and  every  lingering  hope 
was  crushed. 

On  Monday,  September  the  25th,  1893,  as  the 
day  declined,  our  dear  one  fell  sweetly  to  rest. 

[39] 


The  silver  cord  was  loosed,  and  the  golden  bowl 
was  broken,  and  his  pure  spirit  returned  to  God 
who  gave  it. 

His  death  was  crushing  to  those  who  loved 
him  best — too  crushing  and  too  sacred,  indeed, 
to  attempt  its  portrayal  here.  A  large  circle  of 
friends  and  acquaintances  regarded  his  death 
as  a  calamity,  and  demonstrated  their  sympa- 
thy and  grief  in  many  ways. 

May  I  not,  with  becoming  modesty,  quote? — 

"  His  life  was  gentle,  and  the  elements 
So  mixed  in  him,  that  nature  might  stand  up 
And  say  to  all  the  world,  this  was  a  man." 

But  not  what  he  was  has  been  lost — his  past, 
at  least,  is  secure,  for  its  nature  is  immortal. 
The  world  has  lost  only  what  Robah  Bascom 
Kerner  might  have  been,  in  the  many  unaccom- 
plished years  of  a  prime  manhood  of  ordinary 
duration.  To  estimate  the  good  he  might  have 
done  for  the  world,  by  living  long  in  it,  is  not 
in  human  foresight  to  do.  But  no  further  bur- 
dens or  responsibilities  can  be  laid  on  him  now. 
His  work  is  done,  but  not  done  tvifh.  In  other 
minds  and  hearts  his  works  will  bud  forth  and 
blossom  as  the  rose. 

[40] 


"Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord, 
from  henceforth  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may 
rest  from  their  labors;  for  their  works  follow 
them." 

Qloncerning  ^is  Speeches. 

Upon  examination  you  will  find  in  this  Sou- 
venir a  few  of  his  speeches.  Effort  has  been 
made  to  secure  all  the  literary  addresses  he  ever 
made,  but,  after  a  diligent  search,  it  is  found 
that  the  manuscripts  of  several  are  lost,  and  it 
is  by  mere  accident  that  those  herein  published 
have  been  obtained. 

Speech-making,  however,  he  never  considered 
his  forte,  and  often  shrank  from  it.  Urgent  duty, 
also,  kept  him  from  accepting  such  courtesies, 
especially  away  from  town,  as  it  necessarily 
took  time  from  his  business,  both  to  prepare  and 
to  deliver  them.  Among  those  to  be  found 
herein  is  one  he  never  used.  The  request  came 
from  such  a  complimentary  source  that  he  felt 
it  would  be  almost  an  outrage  to  refuse,  and 
hence,  with  snatches  of  time  he  prepared  it, 
but  was  providentially  hindered  from  attending 
the  occasion  for  which  it  was  intended. 

[41] 


Ill  compliance  only  with  what  is  due  him,  his 
friends  and  a  charitable  public  will  kindly  bear  in 
mind  that  his  speeches  were  hurriedly  written, 
and  in  the  case  of  more  than  one, never  rewritten, 
owing  to  the  fact  of  his  having  no  thought  of 
them  ever  being  exposed  to  printer's  ink. 

But  with  a  view  to  the  good  which  I  hope 
will  grow  out  of  it,  especially  to  the  young 
among  his  own  kinsmen,  it  has  been  to  me  a 
work  of  pleasure,  a  precious  toil,  to  gather  to- 
gether some  of  his  manuscripts,  dashed  off  for 
no  eye  to  look  upon  but  his  own,  and  arrange 
them  the  best  I  could  for  other  minds  and  other 
eyes.  And  if  in  their  arrangement  the  idea  is 
not  clear  or  the  connection  is  lost,  or  the  thought 
maimed,  rest  assured  the  fault  is  mine,  not  his. 

One  literary  address  made  in  the  early  part 
of  his  law  career  in  Stokes  county,  N.  C,  it  is 
to  be  regretted,  cannot  be  inserted  in  this  little 
work.  I  can  onlj^  give  the  comment  of  the 
press,  which  is  as  follows :  "  Mr.  R.  B.  Kerner's 
address  on  Monday  night,  was  a  fine  piece  of 
oratory,  scholarly  in  its  diction,  comprehensive 
in  its  scope,  and  flowery  in  its  rendition.  It  was 
a   composition   of  which    any   one    might  feel 

[43] 


proud.  The  commonest  idea  was  clothed  in 
poetic  beaut}'-,  and  every-day  expressions  were 
made  to  glow  with  the  warmth  of  true  eloquence. 
He  is  a  speaker  of  rare  promise,  and  destined 
some  da}'^  to  make  the  welkin  ring  with  the  power 
of  his  oratory."  After  this  address  was  over  a 
party  of  sprightly  young  ladies  assaulted  him 
with  persuasive,  earnest  words  in  the  attempt 
to  prevail  on  him  to  give  them  his  manuscript, 
but  he  held  it  fast,  and  slowly  pulled  off  bits  at  a 
time  until  it  was  entirely  destroyed  and  heaped 
up  under  his  chair. 

€ontinsion. 

Now,  I  close  this  imperfect  sketch  by  thank- 
ing most  heartily  the  officiating  minister  for 
the  memoir  herein  contained,  and  moreover,  all 
other  friends  who  have  assisted  me  in  this  work 
of  love.  Also,  by  expressing  the  hope  that  the 
matter  here  thrown  together  may  afford  some 
interest  and  gratification  to  admiring  friends 
and  loving  relatives,  and  inspire  to  some  degree, 
at  least,  all  into  whose  hands  this  souvenir  may 
fall  to  nobler  efforts  in  the  race  for  success. 

[43] 


^^is  !3oBl)ood. 

The  writer  of  this  tribute  has  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  know  Mr,  Kerner  ahnost  from  his  in- 
fancy. He  well  remembers  him  in  his  very 
early  life  as  a  quiet,  unpretentious  little  boy,  but 
manly  and  dignified  in  his  demeanor.  He  was 
not  one  of  those  headstrong,  rude,  reckless,  bad 
boys  who  we  are  now  told  make  the  great  preach- 
ers, law^^ers,  and  statesmen  of  our  country. 
True,  he  was  not  devoid  of  many  of  bojdiood's 
wa3^s  and  traits.  He  loved  sport,  was  vivacious 
and  pla3'ful,  but  in  all  games  believed  in  "  fair 
pla3\"  He  was  too  modest  to  assume  the  lead- 
ership in  boyish  sports,  but  performed  his  part 
with  energy  and  spirit,  when  the  hour  allotted 
to  such  pastime  was  at  hand.  It  was  noticea- 
ble, at  such  times,  that  he  Avas  not  boisterous  or 
clamorous,  but  addressed  himself  to  the  recrea- 
tion of  the  play-ground  in  a  business-like  way, 
so  much  so,  indeed,  that  a  casual  observer  would 
have  likely  thought  he  was  not  interested  to 
that  extent  which  most  boys  really  are,  and,  per- 
haps, he  was  not.  Other  and  higher  aims,  even 
at  this  early  stage,  probably  engaged  his  ^^outh- 

[44] 


fill  mind.  Beyond  a  doubt,  great  power  of  exe- 
cution and  will  were  slumbering  in  bis  young 
soul,  as  bis  after  life  demonstrated. 

In  bis  early  boybood  be  did  not  pass  for  wliat 
tbere  was  in  bim.  He  was  regarded  simply  as 
a  good  boy,  even-tempered,  cbaste  in  word  and 
action,  dutiful  to  parents  and  teacbers,  trutbful, 
decorous  everywbere,  and  not  restless  under  any 
routine  of  duty  assigned  bim.  Any  wbo  bad 
tbe  proper  autbority  could  command  bim. 

In  tbe  scbool-room  be  did  not  start  off  witb 
tbat  rapid  pace  wbicb  many  do  wbo  fail  to  reacb 
bis  ultimate  standard  of  attainments.  His  enun- 
ciation was  not  as  distinct  as  tbat  of  most  boys 
of  bis  age.  Tbis  may  bave  sbaded  bis  parts  and 
progress  to  a  disadvantage.  It  was  really  tbougbt 
at  tbe  time  tbat  tbis  defect  in  bis  speecb  would 
be  an  impassable  barrier  to  bis  entering  a  pro- 
fession, especially  sucb  a  one  as  be  cbose.  On 
one  scbool-out  occasion,  wben  be  was  about  seven 
or  eigbt  years  old,  be  was  put  up  to  deliver  a 
speecb.  Tbe  selection  be  bad  in  band  was  from 
one  of  tbe  great  masters  of  speecb,  wbicb  abrigbt, 
cultured  boy  of  tbe  bigber  teens  migbt  well 
dread.     In  bis  case  it  was  a  grand  imposition. 

[  45  ] 


But,  imposition  as  it  was,  he  nobly  accepted  the 
situation  and  stood  forth  with  a  dignity  of  atti- 
tude worthy  of  his  cause.  He  labored  and  grap- 
pled with  the  polished  sentences  and  graceful 
periods  and  classic  words  allotted  him  with  an 
effort  worthy  of  success;  but,  alas!  leaving  his 
audience  unenlighted  as  to  the  sublime  thoughts 
couched  in  the  language  he  assayed  but  could 
not  utter. 

He  had,  notably,  one  trait  that  the  bright  boy 
does  not  always  possess.  He  always  accepted 
cheerfully  any  task  or  duty  assigned  him.  He 
did  not  flinch  from  the  undertaking  of  great  or 
small  things.  When  he  knew  what  was  to  be 
done  he  went  at  it  and  kept  at  it.  And  this  was 
so,  not  only  in  his  studies,  but  equallj^  so  in 
manual  labor.  On  one  occasion  a  new  street 
was  laid  in  Kernersville,  and  to  put  this  street 
in  proper  condition  it  must  be  ploAved.  The 
father  of  our  subject  remarked:  "  I  have  a  yoke 
of  oxen,  and  Robah  can  take  them  and  plow  the 
street."  The  proposition  was  accepted  by  the 
city  fathers,  and  the  youthful  plowman  appeared 
promptly  with  his  steady  team,  and  "turned  the 
stubborn  glebe  "  from  day  to  day  until  the  work 

[46] 


was  finished  in  a  style  worthy  of  Cincinnatus. 
This  incident  is  selected  and  recorded  here  to 
show  what  kind  of  foundation  stones  were  used 
in  the  building  of  his  character.  He  was  not 
brought  up  in  idleness.  When  not  in  school  his 
time  was  generally  otherwise  usefully  employed. 
He  did  not  loiter  his  time  away  on  the  streets, 
nor  hang  around  the  stores  with  thoughtless, 
rude  boys,  indulging  in  loose,  mischievous  tat- 
tling. His  taste  or  early-formed  purpose  in  life 
led  him  to  higher  and  better  things. 

As  a  result  of  this  course  of  conduct  and  ap- 
plication, he  soon  began  to  show  gratifying  signs 
of  development,  and  to  leave  most  of  his  com- 
peers behind  in  force  of  character,  refinement  of 
manners,  and  mental  acquirements.  And  yet, 
during  all  the  formative  period  of  his  boyhood, 
and  even  after  he  had  stepped  upon  the  thresh- 
hold  of  youth,  no  one  seemed  to  have  set  for  him 
a  very  high  mark.  However,  his  progress  was 
steady  and  sure.  As  the  sheet  spread  out  upon  the 
green  sward  to  be  bleached  by  the  dews  of  heaven 
and  the  alternating  darkness  of  night  and  light 
of  day,  we  see  no  perceptible  difference  from  one 
day  to  another;  but  at  last,  spots  and  blemishes 

[47] 


all  gone,  we  behold  it  one  sheen  of  purest  white; 
so  he  acquired  from  day  to  day  the  polish  and 
beautv  of  a  well-rounded  and  exalted  manhood, 
and  a  purity  of  life  and  character  which  remains 
a  precious  heritage  to  his  friends  and  loved  ones. 

But  for  limited  space  much  more  might  here 
be  said,  but  the  design  of  this  article  is  to  give 
a  mere  glance  at  the  days  of  boyhood,  leaving 
the  advanced  stages  of  youth  and  manhood  to 
abler  hands,  as  will  be  found  set  forth  in  these 
pages. 

I  should  do  violence  to  my  feelings,  however, 
if  I  did  not  close  this  imperfect  sketch  with  a 
reference  to  the  sainted  mother  of  our  distin- 
guished young  friend.  I  cannot  think  this  a 
departure  from  propriety.  How  natural  and  easy 
it  is  to  associate  a  good  boy  with  a  good  mother. 
His  mother  was  a  lady  of  fine  common  sense, 
with  a  good  degree  of  culture,  quite  refined,  ge- 
nial, kind-hearted,  of  deep  piety,  and,  in  a  word, 
possessed  of  all  the  attributes  that  make  up  a 
beautiful  Christian  life.  She  was  the  worthv 
mother  of  so  worthy  a  son. 

A  Friend. 
[48] 


^n  Jucibent  anb  a  |Jropl)ecji. 

When  Mr.  Kerner  was  a  very  small  bo}^,  too 
small  most  persons  would  have  thought  for  such 
an  errand,  his  father  sent  him  on  horseback  to 
Winston-Salem,  twelve  miles  distant,  to  collect 
some  money  in  Salem  and  pay  it  over  to  the 
clerk  in  Winston  for  recording  some  important 
papers.  When  he  arrived  in  Salem,  he  discov- 
ered a  hitching  rack,  to  which  he  managed  to 
secure  his  horse.  He  then  proceeded  at  once  to 
call  on  the  debtor  and  collect  the  claim  in  hand. 
This  done,  he  went  promptly  to  the  court-house, 
paid  over  the  fees,  and  transacted  the  business 
to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  his  father.  His  er- 
rand accomplished,  he  turned  to  make  his  way 
homeward.  Arriving  at  his  hitching  place,  he 
found  he  could  not  reach  the  peg  to  which  the 
bridle  rein  was  attached,  nor  could  he  mount 
his  horse  to  disengage  it.  His  keen  e3'e  took 
in  the  situation  at  once,  and  although  there 
were  plenty  of  people  just  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  street  whom  he  might  have  called  to  his 
assistance,  he  seemed  to  feel  himself  equal  to  the 
occasion.  He  ascended  the  hitching  frame, 
c^  [  49  ] 


clambered  along  until  he  reached  the  bridle, 
adjusted  the  reins  over  the  horse's  head, 
mounted  him,  and  rode  off  in  unconscious 
heroism. 

This  is  the  simple  incident,  and  how  for  the 
prophecy. 

Rev.  C.  L.  Rights,  now  also  of  precious  mem- 
ory, happened  to  be  so  situated  that  he  saw  the 
boy's  manoeuvres,  as  above  related,  and  with 
his  characteristic  enthusiasm,  remarked  to  a 
friend:  "  There  goes  a  boy  of  pluck;  if  he  lives 
long,  he  will  make  his  mark."  When  the  bo}^ 
developed  into  the  brilliant  and  successful  j^oung 
man,  the  reverend  old  gentleman,  with  great 
complacency,  would  frequently  in  conversation 
refer  to  the  incident  and  the  fulfilling  prophecy. 

A  Friend. 
^is  lUeflll)— ®oucl)iug  Comments,  Ut. 

[From  the  Winston  Sentinel.] 

The  tolling  of  the  city  bells,  shortly  after  five 
o'clock  yesterday  afternoon  announced  to  the 
citizens  of  Winston  the  sad  news  that  the  soul 
of  Mayor  R.  B.  Kerner  had  taken  its  eternal 

[50] 


departure  from  earth.  In  his  death  the  city 
loses  a;  loyal  and  enterprising  citizen,  the  dem- 
ocratic party  a  faithful  and  active  worker,  his 
personal  friends  a  staunch  and  congenial  com- 
panion, and  his  home  a  fond  and  devoted  hus- 
band and  father. 

A  gloom  enwraps  the  city,  because  of  the 
death  of  its  esteemed  chief  officer,  and  there 
flows  from  tender  hearts  a  stream  of  sincere 
sympathy  for  the  bereaved  relatives,  especially 
for  the  Avife  and  child  whose  hearts  are  wrung 
by  anguish  and  over  whom  sorrow's  dark 
clouds  hang  so  thick  and  heavy.  In  the  midst 
of  this  pall  may  the  light  of  heaven  break  and 
bring  that  priceless  solace  which  the  tenderest 
human  comfort  is  powerless  to  convey.  Hon- 
ored as  he  was  at  home,  Mayor  Kerner's  repu- 
tation was  not  confined  to  his  native  county. 
As  an  evidence  of  the  esteem  in  which  he  was 
held  elsewhere,  we  reproduce  the  following  testi- 
monial from  the  Charlotte  Observer  of  this  morn- 
ing: 

"  The  Observer  is  pained  to  chronicle  to-day 
the  news  of  the  death  of  Mayor  R.  B.  Kerner, 
of  Winston.     Winston  has  suffered  greatly  in 

[51] 


the  past  year  in  more  than  one  way,  and  it  is  a 
sad  blow  for  her  now  to  lose  her  official  head, 
who  has  done  much  to  comfort  and  sustain  his 
people  in  their  recent  losses  by  fire  and  during 
the  period  of  financial  depression.  Mayor  Ker- 
ner  was  an  able  law3^er,  and  a  successful  man. 
He  was  ambitious  to  the  extent  that  through 
his  great  energy  and  force  of  character,  he  be- 
came the  head  of  one  of  the  foremost  cities  in 
the  State,  and,  had  he  lived,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  even  higher  honors  were  in  store  for 
him." 

^\9  Beat\)  atib  tlje  ifuneral  (Dbecquies. 

[From  the  Winston  Sentinel. 1 

Winston's  honored  Mayor  and  esteemed  citi- 
zen, Robah  B.  Kerner,  is  dead! 

The  sad  intelligence  came  over  the  telegraph 
wires  from  Kernersville  about  4  o'clock  last 
evening.  He  breathed  his  last  at  3.30  p.  m.,  at 
the  age  of  thirty-four  years. 

Shortly  after  the  news  was  received  here  the 
bell  of  the  town  clock  was  tolled  for  about  fif- 
teen minutes.  Bv  this  means  the  news  of  his 
death  was  heralded  over  both  towns.    The  muni- 

[52] 


cipal  building  was  also  draped  in  mourning 
about  6  o'clock.  No  business  of  any  kind  for 
the  city  was  transacted  to-day. 

While  his  death  was  no  surprise,  nevertheless 
it  was  received  with  deep  regret  by  his  many 
friends  in  the  Twin-Cit3^  He  was  taken  ill  witli 
typhoid  fever.  About  one  month  ago  his  condi- 
tion was  so  improved  that  he  was  able  to  get  up. 
He  came  down  to  his  office  once  or  twice  before 
leaving  for  Kernersville  with  a  view  of  spending 
a  few  days  at  the  home  of  his  father.  In  a  day 
or  two  after  his  arrival  there  a  relapse  came. 
His  condition  since  then  has  been  changeable — 
one  day  he  was  better  and  the]next  worse.  How- 
ever, up  to  a  week  ago  it  was  believed  that  he 
would  recover.  He  was  attended  by  his  father, 
Dr.  E.  Kerner,  Dr.  D.  N.  Dalton,  and  Drs. 
Siewers  and  Bahnson,  of  Salem. 

In  speaking  of  Mr.  Kerner's  death  last  even- 
ing, Mr.  E.  B.  Jones,  law  partner  of  the  deceased, 
said:  "He  was  always  zealous  for  his  friends, 
and  never  forgot  them.  His  death  is  a  heavy 
loss  to  me.  During  our  practice  together  not 
one  unkind  word  ever  passed  us — not  ajar  oc- 
curred in  all  our  business  relations."     The  fune- 

[53] 


ral  services  will  be  conducted  by  Bishop  Rond- 
thaler  and  Pastor  Edward  Crosland,  from  the 
Moravian  church  in  Kernersville,  of  which  the 
deceased  was  an  honored  and  acceptable  mem- 
ber, at  11  o'clock. 

Salem  Lodge,  No.  36,  I.  O.  0.  F.,  of  which  the 
deceased  was  an  esteemed  member,  will  attend 
the  funeral  in  a  body,  and  it  is  understood  that 
he  will  be  buried  with  the  honors  of  the  Order. 

Captain  Buford  has  arranged  for  a  special 
train  to  be  run  from  Winston  to  Kernersville 
for  the  benefit  of  all  who  desire  to  attend  the 
funeral  obsequies.  It  will  leave  at  9:30  A.  M. 
and  return  after  the  close  of  the  services. 

The  special  train  for  Kernersville,  laden  with 
Winston-Salem  citizens,  who  went  down  to  pay 
the  last  tribute  of  respect  to  the  remains  of  our 
lamented  Mayor,  R.  B.  Kerner,  pulled  out  from 
the  R.  and  D.  depot  with  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  of  the  Twin-City's  representative  citi- 
zens. 

The  organizations  attending  in  a  body  were 
the  Cit}'  Councils  of  the  two  towns  and  Mayor 
Doubthit,  of  Salem;  the  Winston  police  force. 
Fire  Department,  and  the  Winston-Salem  broth- 

[54] 


erhood  of  Odd-Fellows.  After  an  eighteen- 
minutes'  run  the  train  arrived  in  Kernersville, 
where  these  different  bodies,  together  with  pri- 
vate citizens,  formed  a  procession  and  marched 
to  the  residence  of  Dr.  E.  Kerner,  the  father  of 
the  deceased,  in  whose  home  the  remains  lay  in 
state. 

The  funeral  services  were  commenced  at  11 
o'clock  at  the  residence.  The  officiating  minis- 
ters were  Rev.  Edward  Crosland  and  Bishop 
Rondthaler,  of  Salem,  assisted  by  Rev.  L.  G. 
Broughton,  of  Winston,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Poe,  of 
Kernersville.  The  hymn  "  Jesus,  Lover  of  My 
Soul,"  was  sweetly  rendered,  followed  by  a 
Scripture  reading  by  Rev.  Mr.  Crosland,  pastor 
of  the  Kernersville  church.  Bishop  Rondtha- 
ler offered  an  appropriate  prayer,  invoking  God's 
comforting  spirit  upon  the  bereaved  family  cir- 
cle and  friends.  After  singing  "  Nearer,  My 
God,  to  Thee,"  the  remains  were  borne  to  the 
church,  followed  by  the  orders  heretofore  men- 
tioned. 

The  pall-bearers  (all  Odd-Fellows)  were  as 
follows:  D.  H.  Browder,  W.  T.  Carter,  W.  H. 
Hitt,  T.  E.  Reynolds,  Dr.  D.  N.  Dalton  and  C. 

[55] 


A.  Hall,  members  of  the  Bar  acting  as  honor- 
ary pall-bearers. 

In  the  church  the  pulpit  and  altar  furniture 
were  tastefully  draped  in  crape. 

The  service  was  opened  by  the  rendering  of 
that  beautiful  hymn  "Safe  in  the  Arms  of 
Jesus"  by  the  choir. 

Rev.  L.  G.  Broughton,  of  this  city,  offered  a 
prayer,  invoking  the  comforting  and  guiding 
spirit  of  God  upon  the  bereaved  city  of  which 
the  deceased  was  the  chief  officer  and  upon  the 
grief-stricken  family. 

The  39th  Psalm  was  read  as  a  Scripture  les- 
son by  Pastor  Crosland,  followed  by  the  read- 
ing of  the  memoir  of  the  deceased.  "  Asleep 
in  Jesus,  Blessed  Sleep,"  was  sung,  followed  by 
the  funeral  address  by  Bishop  Rondthaler,  of 
which  the  following  is  a  brief  outline: 

"Death  is  a  wonderful  arithmetician;  he  keeps 
one  last  unknown  figure  in  reserve.  With  it 
he  changes  every  figure  in  the  sum  total,  sweep- 
ing away  some  values  and  making  others  ten- 
fold, so  that  life  comes  to  be  a  very  different 
thing  when  estimated  in  the  hour  of  death. 
Death  alters  much  in  business,  public  and  pri- 

[56] 


vate  life.  Here  lies  a  strong,  young  business 
man,  as  energetic  and  as  prospered  against  all 
odds  as  any  young  man  in  North  Carolina,  but 
now  lawyer's  office,  court-room,  and  municipal 
halls  shall  know  him  no  more  forever.  Thus, 
in  the  circle  of  friendship  also,  and  most  of  all, 
within  the  home  walls,  death  works  sorest 
changes.  Father  and  wife  must  mourn,  as  in 
this  case  the  loss  of  a  strong,  loving  heart. 

''  Men  should  take  death  into  their  calculation, 
not  despairingly,  but  hopefully,  so  conducting 
their  accounts  that  death  will  be  again  to  them, 
not  a  loss,  when  the  Judge  audits  the  record 
and  stamps  it  with  the  blood-red  seal  of  a  Sa- 
viour's acceptance.  Then  there  can  be  a  blessed 
hope  of  that  heavenly  meeting  concerning 
which  our  Brother  Kerner  spoke  so  brightly, 
ere  with  his  strong,  vigorous,  charitable,  and 
influential  life  he  left  us." 

Rev.  Mr.  Crosland  announced  the  hymn 
''Rock  of  Ages"  as  a  special  favorite  of  the 
deceased,  which  was  rendered  with  an  affecting 
influence  upon  the  attending  congregation.  A 
procession  was  formed  and  the  sad  march  to 
the  grave  was  begun,  the  feet  of  the  immense 

[  57  ] 


concourse  of  people  keeping  a  measured  tread 
to  the  plaintive  and  touching  notes  of  the  horns, 
always  used  by  the  Moravian  brethren  in  their 
funeral  ceremonies. 

After  the  rites  of  the  church  had  been  ful- 
filled the  funeral  service  was  concluded  by  the 
brotherhood  of  Odd-Fellows  with  their  impres- 
sive and  appropriate  ceremonies. 

The  train  bearing  the  Winston-Salem  delega- 
tion returned  about  2  o'clock.  Immediately 
after  the  striking  of  the  hour  of  12  to-day  the 
city  clock  was  tolled  for  nearly  half  an  hour  in 
honor  of  the  funeral  service  of  Winston's  la- 
mented Mayor. 

inemoir  Vieah  bg  ^is  JPastor,  Rco.  ©btnarb  QTroelanb. 

Robah  Bascom  Kerner,  son  of  Dr.  Elias  and 
Partha  Kerner  (M.  N.  Dicks),  was  born  June  3, 
1859,  in  the  town  of  Kernersville,  N.  C.  In  in- 
fancy he  was  baptized  into  the  death  of  Jesus 
according  to  the  faith  of  the  Moravian  church, 
and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years  sealed  his  bap- 
tismal covenant  by  the  rite  of  confirmation  be- 
coming a  member  of  Kernersville  congregation, 

[58] 


and  soon  afterward  partook  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per for  the  first  time. 

The  early  life  of  the  departed  was  spent  in 
the  town  of  his  birth,  where  he  was  carefully 
trained  at  home  and  at  school  for  the  activities 

of  life. 

At  the  early  age  of  fifteen  years  he  began 
teaching  in  the  public  school  near  Germantown, 
this  county.  He  afterward  assisted  in  Normal 
school  work,  and  while  thus  engaged,  was  called 
to  the  responsible  position  of  teacher  in  the 
Boys'  Male  Academy  at  Salem,  which  was  quite 
an  honor  to  a  young  man  sixteen  years  of  age. 
He  continued  his  school  work  in  Salem  for  two 
years,  and  after  an  interval  of  one  year  spent 
at  the  State  University,  he  resumed  his  former 
position  there,  at  the  same  time  beginning  the 
study  of  law  under  Judge  Wilson  and  Lawyer 
Watson,  of  Winston,  and  afterward  under 
Judges  Dick  and  Dillard,  of  Greensboro. 

In  1881  he  resigned  his  position  as  teacher, 
and  in  February  of  the  following  year  was 
granted  license  for  the  practice  of  law  and 
located  in  the  town  of  Winston.  The  public 
at  once  reco2;nized  the  ability  and  integrity  of 

[59] 


the  young  lawyer  and  gave  him  liberal  patron- 
age, insuring  him  success  from  the  very  outset. 

November  6,  1884,  Brother  Kerner  was  hap- 
pily married  to  Miss  Jennie  Donnell,  of  Oak 
Ridge,  N.  C.  Their  union  was  blessed  with 
three  children,  two  of  whom  preceded  their 
father  into  eternity. 

In  April,  1890,  after  practicing  law  alone  for 
eight  years,  Brother  Kerner  entered  into  copart- 
nership with  lawyer  E.  B.  Jones  for  the  practice 
of  law,  which,  in  the  language  of  the  surviving 
partner,  "was  both  pleasant  and  profitable." 
Brother  Kerner  was  not  solicitous  of  office,  but 
his  sterling  worth  won  him  many  friends  whose 
influence  placed  him  in  many  important  and 
honorable  positions  in  life.  In  1883  he  was 
elected  solicitor  of  the  Inferior  Court,  which 
was  then  in  vogue  in  Forsj^th  county.  He  was 
prominent  in  politics,  serving  as  chairman  of 
the  County  Democrat  Executive  Committee  for 
a  number  of  years. 

The  citizens  of  Winston  at  different  times 
showed  him  confidence  and  honor.  In  1885  he 
was  elected  town  commissioner;  the  board  also 
elected  him  secretary  of  the  body  and  treasurer 

[6o] 


of  the  city.  He  was  finally  elected  to  the  highly 
important  office  of  Mayor,  which  is  left  vacant 
by  his  death.  Thus  step  by  step  he  rose  in 
public  favor  and  in  public  trust. 

Though  Brother  Kerner  was  a  thorough  going 
business  man,  deeply  engrossed  with  business 
cares,  he  possessed  traits  of  character  seldom 
found  in  one  so  actively  engaged.  The  loveliest 
part  of  his  character  was  his  love  for  his  home 
and  familv.  It  could  be  said  of  him  when  he 
was  not  at  his  business  he  was  at  home. 

He  loved  to  visit  his  father's  home,  where  he 
spent  his  boyhood  daj^s,  and  at  every  conve- 
nient season  repaired  thither,  if  only  for  a  few 
hours,  to  be  with  those  whom  he  still  loved. 

Brother  Kerner,  in  an  unpretending  wa}^,  did 
a  great  deal  of  good  during  life.  He  was  ever 
ready  to  help  by  word  or  deed. 

As  a  Christian  Brother  Kerner  was  fully  ap- 
preciated only  by  those  who  knew  him  best. 
He  loved  Christ  and  the  church,  and  endeavored 
to  fulfill  his  dut}'  toward  God  and  man. 

The  departed  enjoyed  comparativel}^  good 
health  till  within  a  few  months  before  his  death, 
when  he  was  taken  sick  with  a  fever.     No  one 

[6i] 


thought  his  end  so  near,  but  his  sickness  proved 
very  malignant,  though  at  one  time  he  seemed 
much  improved  and  was  able  to  go  to  his  old 
home,  in  Kernersville,  little  thinking  the  scene 
of  his  birth  would  ere  long  be  the  scene  of  his 
death.  The  disease  soon  came  with  renewed 
power,  and  the  beloved  son  and  husband  began 
to  fade  as  the  Autumn  leaf.  Though  life  was 
to  him  most  dear,  he  seemed  perfectly  resigned, 
giving  comforting  testimony  concerning  his  reli- 
gious faith.  A  few  days  before  his  death  he 
said  to  his  heart-broken  father:  "I  will  meet 
you  in  Heaven."  All  the  skilled  medical  atten- 
tion proved  futile.  Prayer  was  offered  in  the 
house  of  God  and  in  private  that  he  might  be 
spared,  but  Robah  Kerner's  life-work  was  done. 
It  was  God's  will  that  he  should  be  Avith  us  no 
longer.  The  call  came:  Come  up  higher;  so  on 
Monday,  September  25,  1893,  as  the  day  de- 
clined, without  apparent  pain  or  struggle,  the 
loved  one -fell  sweetly  to  rest. 

His  age  was  34  years,  3  months,  22  days. 

It  is  hard  to  understand  why  one  so  young, 
so  noble,  so  useful,  should  be  taken  from  us; 
but  God  knows  best. 

[62] 


Bcsoltttions  pasaci  Bg  tlje  Coari>  of  'Albermen. 

Whereas  the  sad  intelligence  reaches  us  of  the 
death  of  the  chief  officer  of  the  city  of  Winston, 
Mayor  Robah  B.  Kerner,  which  sorrowful  event 
occurred  j^esterday  afternoon  at  Kernersville, 
N.  C;  be  it 

Resolved,  That  while  we  deeply  deplore  the 
departure  from  the  scenes  of  life  of  this  effi- 
cient and  faithful  officer  and  valuable  citizen, 
we  humbly  bow  to  the  decree  of  the  Ruler  of 
the  Universe  in  this  dispensation  which  has 
shrouded  our  community  with  the  mantle  of 
gloom. 

Resolved,  That  the  wise  counsel  of  the  de- 
ceased in  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the 
city  that  he  loved  so  well,  his  high  personal 
character,  his  courteous  demeanor  and  his  genial 
companionship,  will  ever  serve  to  perpetuate 
his  memory,  and  are  high  testimonials  of  the 
great  loss  which  we  and  the  community  at  large 
have  sustained. 

Resolved,  That  to  the  deeply-bereaved  wife 
and  child  and  other  relatives  we  extend  sincere 
svmpathy,  and  pray  that  the  balm  of  the  Great 

[  63  ] 


Physician    may  be  aj^plied    to   their    wounded 
hearts. 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  spread 
upon  the  City  Record,  that  a  copy  be  sent  to 
the  family,  and  that  copies  be  furnished  the 
press  of  Winston,  Salem  and  Kernersville,  with 
the  request  that  they  publish  the  same. 

J.  H.  Pierce, 

D.  H.  King, 

E.  H.  Wilson, 

Committee. 

fJroccebings  of  t\]e  ttlinston  i3or. 

Judge  Winston  announced  this  afternoon,  at 
the  opening  of  court,  that  it  would  adjourn  in 
honor  of  the  lamented  Robah  B.  Kerner,  late 
member  of  the  bar  and  mayor  of  the  city  of 
Winston. 

On  motion  of  C.  B.  Watson,  Judge  Winston 
was  elected  chairman  of  the  meeting  and  E.  E. 
Gray  secretary. 

On  taking  the  chair.  Judge  Winston  made  a 
few  appropriate  and  feeling  remarks  upon  the 
life  of  Mr.  Kerner.  He  knew  him  at  college 
and  as  a  lawyer. 

[64] 


Mr.  E,.  B.  Glen  offered  the  following  resolu- 
tions, which  were  unanimously  adopted: 

Whereas  it  has  pleased  the  Creator  of  Man 
to  call  from  amongst  us  to  his  eternal 
home  Robah  Bascom  Kerner,  our  friend  and 
brother — 

Be  it  resolved  by  the  Bar  Association  of  Win- 
ston, N.  C,  1st,  That  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Ker- 
ner the  members  of  the  Winston  bar  have  lost 
a  friend  whom  they  greatly  admired  for  his 
many  estimable  and  manly  qualities,  and  who 
had,  during  an  association  of  eleven  years,  be- 
come endeared  to  them  by  reason  of  his  gentle 
demeanor  and  engaging  manners;  that  in  his 
death  the  profession  has  lost  an  able,  a  faithful, 
and  a  painstaking  lawyer,  and  the  community, 
by  which  he  was  so  many  times  honored,  a  ser- 
vant untiring  in  his  devotion  to  the  public  wel- 
fare and  unceasing  in  accomplishing  his  patri- 
otic purposes. 

2d.  That  the  success  he  attained  by  his  inde- 
fatigable industry,  his  unflagging  zeal,  and  his 
fidelity  to  duty  is  without  a  parallel  in  the  his- 
tory of  this  bar,  and  that  his  example  is  one 
that  will  ever  remain  with  us  as  an  inspiration 

[  65  ] 


to  higher  endeavor,  and  one  that  the  young  men 
of  all  professions  may  emulate. 

3d.  That  we  extend  to  her,  from  whom  death 
has  taken  an  affectionate  husband,  and  to  his 
father  and  his  family,  our  deep  sympathy. 

R.  B.  Glen, 
E.  B.  Jones, 
Lindsay  Patterson, 

Committee. 

E.  B.  Jones,  law  partner  of  the  deceased,  de- 
livered the  memorial  address.  It  was  an  able 
effort,  well  worthy  of  its  subject  and  its  author. 
Short  addresses  were  also  made  by  Messrs.  Glen 
and  Watson.  Both  of  these  gentlemen  were  elo- 
quent in  their  portrayal  of  the  many  admirable 
qualities  possessed  by  Mr.  Kerner. 

Tears  glistened  in  the  eyes  of  many  in  the 
audience  when  Mr.  Jones  closed  his  beautiful 
tribute  to  the  ability  and  constant  fidelity  of 
Mr.  Kerner. 

i^on.  (K.  B.  Soues's  tribute  to  his  Ctt:i)aracter. 

It  is  with  reluctance,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  I 
shall  endeavor  to  discharge  the  duty  assigned 

[66] 


me  by  my  brethren  of  the  bar,  because  I  feel 
my  inability  to  do  justice  to  the  life  of  our  es- 
teemed and  departed  brother,  which  was  so 
short  and  yet  so  full. 

It  has  been  only  a  few  years  since  R.  B.  Ker- 
ner  crossed  the  threshold  of  manhood  and  stood 
a  beardless  youth  upon  the  floor  of  this  court- 
room and  was  made  a  member  of  that  profes- 
sion which  honored  him,  which  he  honored,  and 
to  which  he  died  devoted. 

Full  of  vitality,  energy,  and  pluck,  without 
rank  and  without  wealth,  the  future  then  was 
as  bright  as  the  stars  that  dot  the  blue-vaulted 
heavens.  Before  he  had  reached  two-score 
years — in  less  than  one  generation — he  had 
climbed  past  the  middle  post  of  his  profession, 
gained  the  admiration  of  his  brethren  and  the 
confidence  of  his  fellow-citizens  as  a  business 
man  and  as  a  leader  in  public  thought. 

He  filled  positions  of  trust  and  honor  from 
the  time  he  was  sixteen  years  old  till  his  death, 
and  at  his  death  was  chief  magistrate  of  the 
most  prosperous  city  in  the  limits  of  our  State. 

Mr.  Chairman,  though  he  died  young,  he 
lived  long  enough  to  realize  one  great  aim  of  his 

[67] 


life,  and  that  was  to  leave  a  suitable  and  com- 
fortable maintenance  for  those  whom  he  loved 
so  devotedly. 

There  was,  however,  one  great  secret  ambition 
of  his  life,  the  consummation  of  which  nothing 
but  death  and  political  intrigue  could  have  pre- 
vented— that  was,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  wear  the 
judicial  ermine. 

How  well  and  nobly  he  would  have  borne 
this  position  of  trust  and  honor  none  but  those 
who  knew  him  best  can  say. 

That  executive  ability,  sparkling  intellect, 
methodical  habits;  that  energy  and  perseverance 
which  characterized  his  life  and  brought 
honors  with  profits  in  lower  positions  and 
walks  of  life,  would  have  found  here  a  rich 
harvest  that  would  have  brightened  these 
faculties  and  cast  lustre  upon  the  great  mind 
which  he  possessed. 

His  early  life  developed  those  characteristics 
which  insured  success.  At  the  age  of  sixteen 
years  he  commenced  as  a  teacher  in  the  public 
schools  and  from  that  time  till  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  his  life  shifted  from  student  to  teacher 
and  teacher  to  student,  thereby  cultivating  execu- 

[68] 


tive  ability,  accuracy,  and  method,  so  material  in 
giving  success  in  after  years. 

Mr.  Chairman,  it  is  not  hard  for  me  to  realize 
the  loss  of  one  who,  day  after  day,  side  by  side, 
for  more  than  three  years  trod  the  same  path  of 
life,  shared  in  each  other's  triumphs,  and  sym- 
pathized in  each  other's  failures,  drawn  together 
by  friendship  and  common  interests — three 
years  of  unbroken  pleasant  business  relations — 
only  served  to  hermetically  seal  a  bond,  mutual 
admiration,  and  friendship  which  ended  only  in 
death.  In  the  office,  in  the  library,  around  the 
desk  (where  he  clung  so  diligently),  in  the  con- 
sultation-room, where  his  quick  and  active  mind 
flashed  its  darts  of  wisdom,  I  miss  and  shall 
miss  him. 

Principle  was  his  guiding  star — the  spring 
that  moved  him  to  action.  He  hated  deception, 
he  loved  truth,  and  he  never  betrayed  or  de- 
serted a  friend. 

Though  devoted  to  the  welfare  and  prosperity 
of  his  adopted  city,  he  never  forgot  the  place  of 
his  birth,  and  with  each  returning  Christmas- 
tide  his  heart  turned  back  to  the  old  homestead 
where  so  many  fond  recollections   cluster  and 

[69] 


brighten  as  time  bears  us  on  that  tide  that  wafts 
us  into  eternity.  As  each  old  year  faded  into 
the  past,  it  was  his  custom  to  visit  this  cher- 
ished spot,  where  he  breathed  his  last,  and  with 
sweet  gifts  that  gladdened  the  hearts  of  old  and 
young  he  brightened  that  life  to  which  he 
clung. 

His  life,  Mr.  Chairman,  was  only  a  span  from 
the  cradle  to  the  grave;  full  of  devotion  to  wife 
and  child,  full  of  devotion  to  principle  and 
truth,  full  of  success  embellished  with  earthly 
honors,  it  has  flashed  like  a  meteor  across  our 
paths  and  he  is  no  more. 

Loyal  to  his  friends  as  the  needle  to  the  pole, 
as  chaste  and  pure  in  his  conversation  as  a  wo- 
man, he  lived,  and  envied  no  man;  he  lived  and 
slandered  no  enemy,  and  he  died  without  a 
stain  upon  his  character.  The  world  is  better 
that  he  lived  in  it.  His  character  is  worthy  of 
emulation,  and  deserves  the  admiration  of  his 
fellow-men. 

3n  iWemoriam. 

The  Twin  City  Club  desires  that  the  estimate 
which    its    members   have    placed    upon    the 

[70] 


character  of  Robah  B.  Kerner,  late  mayor  of 
tlie  city  of  Winston,  be  entered  upon  its  rolls 
and  that  mention  of  the  same  be  made  to  the 
public  and  to  his  family.  His  death  leaves  a 
noble  memory  in  lieu  of  a  useful  life,  one  too 
sacred  to  his  friends  and  too  valuable  to  all  to 
be  lost  to  the  world.  With  him  life  was  real, 
life  was  earnest,  and  he  accomplished  in  youth 
the  task  of  a  long  life.  A  fine  scholar,  an  able 
lawyer,  a  distinguished  and  useful  public  citi- 
zen, a  successful  business  man,  a  gentleman,  a 
Christian;  strong  and  true  in  these  and  in  all 
the  complex  relations  of  society.  The  mem- 
bers of  our  club  are  sensible  of  their  great  loss, 
and  they  beg  to  extend  their  tenderest  sympa- 
thies to  the  family,  whose  loss  is  the  largest  and 
whose  grief  is  the  greatest,  thankful  that  their 
pathway  through  life  has  been  made  more  bright 
and  clear  by  an  example  which  will  live  on  and 
shine  across  the  grave. 

We  are,  with  much  respect, 

A.  H.  Eller, 

H.    L.    RiGGINS, 

T.  W.  Hensk, 

Committee. 
[7^] 


Uesolntions  of  iDinston  Qlliamber  of  QTommerce. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Winston,  N.  C, 
passed  resolutions  as  follows: 

Whereas,  since  the  last  meeting  of  this  body, 
death  has  claimed  from  our  midst  a  valuable 
member,  and  from  our  town  a  prominent  citi- 
zen; and 

Whereas  he  was  contributing  his  full  share  to- 
ward the  upbuilding  of  our  towns,  and  was  ac- 
tively engaged  in  his  chosen  pursuit  when  the 
summons  came:  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  as  we  bow  to  the  will  of  an 
All-Wise  Providence,  we  feel  that  our  Chamber 
of  Commerce  and  the  community  have  lost  a 
valuable,  energetic  and  enterprising  member, 
and  we  can  but  acknowledge  the  loss  we  have 
sustained  as  we  extend  to  the  bereaved  family 
our  heart-felt  sympathy. 

Proceedings  Salem  Cobge,  3.  (JD.  (!D.  £. 

Whereas  it  has  pleased  our  Heavenly  Father, 
in  his  wise  providence  to  remove  from  this 
earthly  life  the  soul  of  our  brother,  Robah  B.  Ker- 
ner,  whose  devotion  to  this  Lodge  was  conspic- 

[72] 


uoiis,  thereby  greatly  endearing  himself  to  us 
as  an  active  member: 

Resolved,  That  we  hereby  desire  to  express  the 
deep  sorrow  and  sense  of  loss  which  we  feel  in 
the  death  of  our  friend  and  associate,  and  our 
sincere  sympathy  with  the  members  of  his  af- 
flicted family,  especially  with  her  who  has  been 
his  constant  companion  in  all  times  of  health 
and  sickness. 

Resolved  further,  That  in  the  death  of  Brother 
Kerner  this  Lodge  has  lost  one  of  its  strongest 
friends,  and  one  whose  interest  in  our  organiza- 
tion continued  unabated  to  the  time  of  his  death. 
Ever  faithful,  constant  and  efficient  in  all  the 
walks  of  life,  he  revealed  a  virtue  so  earnest  in 
its  character  as  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  any 
motive  other  than  the  sincerest  love  and  perfect 
trust  in  his  blessed  Master,  whom  he  so  de- 
lighted to  honor;  and  although  now  called  by 
the  Master  to  higher  duties,  the  memory  of  his 
labors  in  this  Lodge,  which  he  ever  held  dear  to 
his  heart,  and  in  whose  behalf  he  worked  so 
faithfully  and  so  well,  will  be  a  constant  aid  to  us. 

Resolved  further.  That  a  copy  of  these  resolu- 
tions be  sent  to  his  family  with  the  assurance 
J  [73] 


that  we  tenderly  condole  with  them  and  devoutly 

commend  them  to  the  keeping  of  Him  who  ever 

looks    with    pitying   eye    on  the  widowed  and 

fatherless.  ^  -n    /-i 

John  1^.  Griffith, 

T.  E.  Reynolds, 

J.  C.    Buxton, 

Committee. 

Proceedings  of  Encampment  No.  20,  3  ®.  (B>.  J^. 

Whereas  the  hand  of  death  has  removed 
from  our  midst  Past  Grand  Patriarch  and  Past 
Grand  Representative  R.  B.  Kerner,  who  was 
greatly  beloved  in  all  the  positions  of  honor 
of  the  subordinate  Lodge  and  the  Encampment 
of  this  city;  and 

Whereas  we  humbly  feel  the  loss  of  one  whose 
counsel  and  conduct  tended  to  the  elevation  of 
our  brotherhood:  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  this  Encamp- 
ment, while  deeply  deploring  the  death  of  our 
fellow-Patriarch,  in  the  prime  of  life,  do  humbly 
acquiesce  in  the  providence  of  Him  who  has 
seen  fit  to  lay  this  affliction  upon  us  and  our 
Order;  that  we  recognize  in  his  wisdom  a  mo- 

[74] 


tive  bej^ond  what  our  dim  eyes  can  discern,  in 
that  our  fellow-Patriarch  will  l)e  with  us  no 
more  on  earth. 

Resolved,  That  we  will  ever  cherish  a  remem- 
brance of  Patriarch  Kerner's  nobility  of  char- 
acter, his  keen  insight  into  the  affairs  of  men, 
his  devotion  to  duty,  his  friendliness  to  this  and 
other  Encampments,  his  foresight  and  prac- 
tical judgment  of  what  was  best  for  the  Order. 

Resolved,  That  to  his  bereaved  family  we  ex- 
tend our  warmest  sympathy;  that  their  loss  is 
our  loss;  that  their  grief  is  our  grief;  that  in  us 
they  will  ever  find  friends  of  true  and  tried  sta- 
bility;  that  their  welfare  will  to  us  always  be  of 
greatest  interest;  that  we  ask  for  them  a  contin- 
uation of  Divine  blessing  in  their  hour  of  dark- 
est and  deepest  sadness. 

Resolved,  That  the  Patriarchs  of  this  Encamp- 
ment wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning  for 
thirty  days;  that  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be 
sent  to  the  family  of  our  deceased  Patriarch. 

C.  E.  Ckist, 
W.  F.  Keith, 
C.  A.  Hall, 

^e^^.  28th,  1893.  Committee. 

[75] 


iHemorial  CSranb  Cobgc,  J.  ®.  (S).  if. 

The  following  is  taken  from  the  proceedings 
of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  I.  0.  0.  F.,  held  in 
Goldsboro',  N.  C,  in  May,  1894: 

Robah  Bascom  Kerner,  son  of  Dr.  Elias  and 
Partha  Kerner,  was  born  June  3d,  1859,  in  the 
town  of  Kernersville,  N.  C. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  years  he  was  confirmed  a 
member  of  the  Moravian  church,  and  led  such  a 
life  to  the  end  as  commended  the  esteem  and  af- 
fection of  his  brethren  and  Christians  of  all  per- 
suasions. His  early  life  was  spent  at  home,  in 
school  and  in  such  manual  labor  as  the  home 
and  farm  demanded.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he 
taught  a  public  school  in  the  town  of  German- 
ton.  Soon  after  this  he  was  called  to  assist  in 
normal  work,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  he  en- 
tered the  Boy's  Male  Academy  of  Salem  as  a 
teacher.  This  was  regarded  a  high  honor  for 
one  of  his  age.  After  two  years'  work  in  this 
school,  he  spent  a  year  at  the  University  of 
North  Carolina.  Here,  in  connection  with  other 
studies,  he  addressed  himself  to  a  preparation 
for  his  earlv  chosen  profession — the  law.  At  the 

[76] 


close  of  his  term  at  the  University,  he  re-entered 
the  Salem  school,  and  devoted  a  part  of  his  time 
to  the  study  of  law  under  Judge  Wilson  and 
Hon.  C.  B.  Watson.  After  a  short  interval  thus 
spent  he  retired  and  attended  the  law  school  of 
Judges  Dick  and  Dillard  in  Greensboro',  N.  C. 
In  February,  1882,  he  was  granted  license  to 
practice  law.  His  industry,  integrity  and  abil- 
ity were  at  once  recognized,  and  he  immediately 
entered  upon  a  lucrative  and  successful  prac- 
tice. 

On  November  6th,  1884,  he  married  Miss  Jen- 
nie, the  accomplished  daughter  of  W.  0.  and 
M.  F.  Donnell,  of  Oak  Ridge,  N.  C.  Immedi- 
ately after  this  happy  union  his  career  kindled 
into  a  brilliancy  that  astonished  his  most  inti- 
mate friends. 

He  did  not  seek  office,  but  positions  of  honor 
and  trust  sought  him.  These  he  accepted  from 
considerations  of  duty  and  not  from  unsancti- 
fied  schemes  of  ambition.  In  1883  he  was 
elected  Solicitor  of  the  Inferior  Court,  and  filled 
the  office  with  honor  to  himself  and  to  the  ad- 
miration of  friends.  For  years  he  was  Chair- 
man of  the  County  Executive  Committee  of  his 

[77] 


party.  In  1885  the  city  of  Winston  elected  him 
one  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  and  he  was  made 
Secretary  and  City  Treasurer.  After  serving 
for  some  years  in  this  capacity,  he  was  called  by 
the  suffrage  of  his  fellow-citizens  to  fill  the  of- 
fice of  Mayor  of  the  city,  and  was  the  incum- 
bent of  this  office  at  his  death.  During  his 
administration  as  Mayor  many  important  mea- 
sures were  inaugurated  and  executed  for  Win- 
ston's improvement  and  progress.  The  city  also 
passed  some  critical  and  trying  ordeals,  but 
with  an  energy  and  will  he  met  these  emergen- 
cies with  a  success  that  few  could  equal,  and, 
perhaps,  none  could  excel. 

September  25th,  1882,  he  was  initiated  into 
Salem  Lodge,  No.  36,  Independent  Order  of  Odd- 
Fellows.  June  26,  1883,  he  was  elected  Vice- 
Grand,  and  December  18th  of  same  vear,  Noble 
Grand.  His  geniality  and  enthusiasm  in  the 
work  gained  for  him  a  rapid  promotion  to  all 
the  stations  in  his  Lodge.  In  the  year  1885 
and  1886  he  was  Representative  to  the  Grand 
Lodge.  He  at  once  became  prominent  in  the 
Grand  body,  and  was  appointed  District  Dep- 
uty Grand  Master  by  the  Grand  Masters  of  1887 

[78] 


and  1888.  At  Goldsboro',  May  11,  1886,  he  re- 
ceived the  Grand  Encampment  Degree,  and  the 
next  day  was  elected  Junior  Warden.  In  1887 
he  was  elected  Grand  High  Priest;  in  1888 
Grand  Patriarch;  in  1889  Grand  Representa- 
tive to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Grand  Repre- 
sentative C.  M.  Busbee,  who  had  been  elected 
Deputy  Grand  Sire,  and  performed  the  duty  of 
this  high  station  by  attending  the  meeting  of 
the  Sovereign  Grand  Lodge  at  Columbus,  Ohio, 
in  the  year  1889. 

On  his  death,  which  occurred  September  25th, 
1893,  suitable  and  touching  resolutions  were 
passed  by  Lodge  No.  36  and  Encampment  No. 

20. 

His  private  and  social  life  was  one  of  beauty 
and  geniality.  His  labors  were  immense,  but 
his  system  and  industry  were  such  that  business 
was  dispatched  with  a  rapidity  which  afforded 
him  much  time  with  his  family  at  home  and  in 
the  social  festivities  of  life.  His  chief  delight 
was  in  his  home  and  the  association  of  loved 
ones  there.  Tokens  of  love  to  them  was  a  study 
with  him.  Often  with  well  chosen  and  useful 
presents — even  domestics  being  remembered — 

[79] 


he  made  his  family  feel  how  absolutely  they 
reigned  in  the  purest  and  best  affections  of  his 
heart.  His  hospitality  was  of  the  most  hearty 
and  generous  character.  As  a  friend,  a  citizen,  a 
Christian,  he  was  noble  and  magnanimous.  A 
friend  might  rely  on  him  in  the  hour  of  trial  and 
need — an  enemy  might  expect  to  be  forgiven. 

After  a  long  illness  of  typhoid  fever,  lasting 
from  June  to  September,  he  fell  gently  to  rest 
at  the  age  of  34  years. 

Well  may  the  grass  grow  green  on  his  grave, 
and  the  birds  sing  around  it  their  sweetest 
carols.  Though  he  died  young,  in  active  ac- 
complishments, he  lived  to  be  old,  and  the  sod 
lies  light  and  thin  over  the  place  of  his  peace- 
ful sojourn. 

IPrcss  Comment. 

[From  the  Oak  Leaf.] 

Prof.  J.  Allen  Holt,  of  Oak  Ridge  Institute, 
in  Oak  Leaf,  writes: 

"  The  community  has  been  saddened  by  the 

death  of   this  promising    and    talented  young 

North  Carolinian,  which  occurred  at  the  home 

of   his  father,   in    Kernersville,  on   the    25th. 

[80] 


Anxiously  bad  his  many  friends  been  waiting 
on  the  change  which  it  Avas  hoped  would  come 
for  thel)etter;  but,  abas!  his  days  were  number- 
ed, and  his  life  went  out  before  he  had  reached 
the  zenith  of  his  usefulness  and  success. 

''  School  teacher,  lawyer,  county  solicitor, 
city  treasurer,  and,  last  but  not  least,  mayor 
of  the  bustling  and  thriving  city  of  Winston, 
every  step  of  this  gradation  was  marked  by  a 
prudence  and  a  conservatism,  by  wisdom  and 
integrity  of  the  highest  order.  So  when  they 
assembled  to  pay  the  last  tribute  of  respect  to 
his  memory,  strong  men  wept,  and  all  who  knew 
him  felt  the  loss,  and  felt  it  keenly,  of  a  fellow- 
citizen  whose  place  could  not  be  easily  filled. 
In  other  walks  of  life — in  the  church  and  in  all 
moral  reforms — he  was  also  a  leader  of  men. 

"  His  wife  was  Miss  Jennie  Donnell,  daugh- 
ter of  Mr.  W.  0.  Donnell,  of  this  place.  To 
her  and  her  relatives,  in  their  sore  bereave- 
ment, we  tender  our  warmest  sympathy." 

[From  the  Raleigh  North  Carolinian.] 

"  The  deceased  was  a  member  of  the  law  firm  of 
Jones  &  Kerner.     He  was  one  of  the  brightest 


men  in  the  State,  and  few  men  had  more  friends. 
He  was  a  conservative,  but  successful  business 


man." 


[The  Durham  Sun.] 

Mr.  J.  A.  RoBERsoN,  a  former  Winstonian  and 
an  intimate  friend  of  the  deceased,  writes  in  the 
Durham  Sun:  "  Our  pen  has  a  touch  of  sadness 
about  it  as  we  trace  these  lines  and  record  the 
death  of  Robah  B.  Kerner,  the  talented  young 
Mayor  of  the  city  of  Winston.  He  was  young 
in  years — only  thirty-four — a  lawyer  of  marked 
ability,  and  he  moved  among  his  people  peace- 
fully and  kindly,  and  in  every  relation  and  all 
circumstances  he  proved  steadfast  to  principle, 
and  was  governed  in  all  things  by  a  sense  of 
honor  and  duty.  And  thus  he  won  for  himself 
the  love  of  those  nearest  him  in  life,  and  the 
respect  and  confidence  of  all  who  knew  him. 
Of  him  it  can  in  truth  be  said  that  the  world  is 
better  for  the  honorable  life  he  lived,  and  for 
the  good  example  he  has  left  behind  him.  He 
leaves  a  young  wife  and  one  child.  We  mingle 
our  sorrow  with  his  loved  ones  and  friends.  A 
bright  and  useful  life  has  been  extinguished  by 
death.     May   it  so   be  that  our  friend  who   is 

[82] 


gone  has  entered  upon  those  immortal  joys 
which  he  believed  awaited  him,  and  which  he 
so  dutifully  devoted  his  life  here  to  deserve;  and 
let  us  trust  that,  reunited  with  loved  ones  gone 
before,  he  walks  to-day  forever  safe  from  care 
and  sorrow." 

[From  the  Moravian  of  Bethlehem,  Pa.] 

"  In  the  death  of  Brother  Robah  B.  Kerner, 
Mayor  of  Winston,  the  Moravian  Church  has 
lost  a  very  valuable  member.  He  was  a  man  of 
growing  influence,  and  had  attained  a  remarka- 
ble success  in  a  very  short  time.  He  was  par- 
ticularly interested  in  the  Kernersville  congre- 
gation, which  could  always  rely  on  his  council 
and  aid.  His  early  departure  has  been  a  sore 
loss  to  the  Church  and  to  us  all." 

Personal  Cetters. 

FROM  THE    PEN  OF    AN  ESTEEMED  FRIEND,  MR,  GEO. 

RIGHTS. 

''In  the  death  of  Mayor  Kerner,  Winston 
mourns,  and  justly,  for  he  was  a  loyal  and  pro- 
gressive citizen,  a  leading  lawyer,  a  true  friend, 

[83] 


and  was  faithful  to  every  trust  imposed  upon 
him,  filling  at  the  same  time  of  his  demise,  with 
honor  and  credit,  the  office  of  Chief  Executive 
of  our  local  government,  and  due  respect  to  his 
memory  was  observed  in  all  the  departments 
thereof  on  Tuesday  and  Wednesday.  His  death 
is  the  first,  in  the  history  of  either  Winston  or 
Salem,  of  a  mayor  while  actively  filling  the 
duties  of  that  office. 

"  Our  friendship  was  formed  years  ago  and  fre- 
quently strengthened  as  time  and  opportunity 
permitted  in  the  hurry  and  bustle  of  two  busy 
lives.  Of  him  we  shall  always  think  kindly 
and  tenderly,  and  ever  hope  to  meet  again  be- 
yond this  brief  span  called  time,  where  partings 
are   no  more,   and    sickness    and   death   never 


come." 


The  compiler  is  indebted  to 

MR.  E.  H.  WILSON 

for  the  following  extracts  from  his  letter  of 
April  19,  1894:  "Replying  to  your  late  favor 
will  say  that  I  but  echo  the  sentiments  of  the 
whole  community  when  I  say  that  Mr.  Kerner's 
record  as  Mayor  of  this  citv  has  never  been  ex- 

[84]" 


celled  He  was  a  fine  judge  of  human  nature, 
and  all  of  his  rulings  were  fair  and  impartial. 
When  death  ended  his  cares  on  earth,  the  uni- 
versal verdict  of  his  fellow-citizens  was:  '*  Well 
done,  good  and  faithful  servant."  He  filled  with 
honor  and  credit  every  position  in  life  that  was 
assigned  him.  He  was  for  a  number  of  years 
(until  he  declined  re-election)  chairman  of  the 
County  Democratic  Executive  Committee,  and 
his  law  ofiice  for  the  past  eight  or  ten  years 
during  each  campaign  was  Democratic  head- 
quarters. The  Democracy  of  the  county  has 
indeed  lost  its  leader, 

"It  was  largely  through  his  labors  that  the 
county  went  Democratic  at  the  last  election.  In 
the  Third  Ward  he  caused  another  door  to  be 
opened  through  which  the  white  people  could 
pass  and  vote,  the  negroes  having  monopolized 
the  other  entrance  to  the  ballot-box." 

The  following  extract  is  from  a  letter  written 
by 

-^  ME".  J.  H.  LINDSAY, 

editor  of  the  Charlottesville  (Va.)  Daily  Progress: 

"  I  cannot  begin  to  express  in  words  the  grief 
and  sympathy  I  felt  at  Robah's  death.  So  bright 

[85] 


and  promising,  and  with  such  a  brilliant  future 
before  him,  it  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  Provi- 
dence that  he  should  have  been  taken  while 
many,  who  could  have  been  so  much  better 
spared,  were  left.  There  was  everything  which 
ambition,  friendship,  and  the  love  and  devotion 
of  family  could  inspire  to  make  life  sweet  to 
him  and  parting  sad  to  you.  Words  at  such  a 
time  are  so  empty  and  meaningless.  They  can- 
not check  or  stem  the  torrent  of  grief  that 
surges  through  the  soul  and  shuts  out  every  ray 
of  sunlight.  With  you  there  should  be  some 
little  pleasure  now  in  considering  how  brilliant 
was  the  star  that  set  so  soon — how  worthy  the 
example  so  brief  a  life  has  left  behind.  No  one's 
death,  outside  of  m}^  own  family,  caused  me 
such  sorrow  and  surprise  as  Robah's.  My  love 
and  admiration  of  him  was  stronger  than  is 
often  found  among  those  of  kindred  blood.  I 
watched  his  rapid  rise  to  fame  and  fortune  with 
unbounded  delight,  and  when  his  death  came 
I  grieved  as  for  a  brother,  and  could  not  believe 
that  he  was  reall}^  dead. 

"  Time  is  a  great  healer,  and  it  is  well  that  God 
has    so  ordained  it.     '  His  grave  will  come  at 

[86] 


last  to  be  a  place  of  rest  and  peace,  almost  of 
jo}^'  His  own  jo3'ous  life  was  an  argument 
against  nursing  grief  instead  of  overcoming  it.' " 


MR.  CHARLES  D.    m'iVOR. 


The  following  highly  appreciated  letter  was 
received  from  President  Charles  D.  Mclvor  in 
reply  to  being  requested  to  reproduce  the  words 
he  used  in  a  literary  address  made  in  Kerners- 
ville,  N.  C,  April  7,  1894: 

My  Dear  Sir, — Absence  from  home  has  pre- 
vented an  earlier  reply  to  your  letter  of  April 
24tli.  I  am  not  able  to  reproduce  what  I  said 
in  regard  to  Mr.  Kerner.  It  was  said  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment,  and  as  nearl}^  as  I  can  re- 
member, it  was  something  like  this:  In  giving 
the  reasons  why  I  was  glad  to  make  an  address 
in  Forsyth  county  and  in  Kernersville,  particu- 
larly, I  stated  that  it  was  the  birthplace  and 
home  of  a  man  who  was  the  friend  of  m}'  boy- 
hood and  my  manhood,  and  who,  on  account  of 
his  integrity  and  energy,  achieved  the  highest 
success,  and  that  in  those  respects  he  was  a 
model  for  every  boy  in  the  audience.  You 
quoted  almost  m^^  exact  language  in  the  sen- 

[«7] 


tences:  "His  perseverance  never  waned,  and  if 
the  word  surrender  was  in  his  dictionary,  he 
never  saw  it." 

It  is  impossible  for  me  to  reproduce  what  I 
said,  and  I  feel  that  it  is  impossible  for  me  to 
express  my  own  personal  loss  in  the  death  of 
the  man  who  was,  in  many  respects,  my  best 
and  honored  friend.  I  am  not  able  to  say  to 
you  how  deep  my  sympathy  has  been  for  Mrs. 
Kerner  and  little  May,  but  I  have  never  written 
to  them  because,  somehow,  I  felt  that  I  could 
not. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  me  to  know  that  she  has 
found  out  indirectly,  and  has  appreciated  my 
reference  to  her  husband  and  my  friend  on 
the  occasion  to  which  you  refer. 

If  I  had  the  time  now  I  should  be  glad  to 
write  my  estimate  of  his  character  and  work. 
I  shall  not  be  able  to  do  it  now,  but  mav  do  so 
hereafter. 


Personal  iUcKtion. 

In  a  lecture  at  Winston  on  "  People  We  Meet, 

[lade  1 

[88] 


J? 


Rev.  Dr.  Broughton  made  the  following  remark: 


"I  cannot  close  without  mentioning  the  name 
of  your  beloved  deceased  IMayor,  R.  B.  Kerner. 
May  God  bless  him,  I  love  the  memory  of  that 
man,  because  he  was  my  friend." 

^Apologetic. 

As  heretofore  said,  the  following  speeches 
were  never  intended  by  the  speaker  for  publica- 
tion. They  are  given,  in  a  great  degree,  as 
gathered  froin  fragmentary  manuscripts  with- 
out revision  or  modification.  If  they  should 
seem  lacking  in  that  elegance  of  diction,  which 
the  more  critical  expect  of  a  printed  address, 
let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  they  appear  hon- 
estly, in  the  abandoned,  impetuous  style  which 
the  busy  young  lawyer  would  be  apt  to  employ 
on  the  rostrum,  as  in  the  forum,  more  for  the 
masses  than  for  the  erudite.  It  is  believed, 
nevertheless,  that  the  young  may  find  clearly 
set  forth  in  these  speeches  the  true  philosoph}- 
of  that  success  in  the  battle  of  life  of  which 
the  author  himself  was  an  eminent  living 
example. 

[  89  ] 


SPEECH    DELIVERED    BEFORE    MRS.  RIGHT's   SCHOOL 

FOR    CHILDREN. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  I  simply  make  nn^ 
bow  to  you  and  give  you  notice  now  that  I 
shall  have  no  more  to  say  to  you,  nor,  as  for 
that  matter,  will  I  have  an3^thing  to  say  for  you 
to  hear.  I  am  going  to  talk  to  the  children. 
They  are  nearer  my  element,*  and,  besides,  they 
must  have  some  attention. 

"  Ah  !  what  would  the  world  be  to  us 
If  the  children  were  no  more? 
We  should  dread  the  desert  behind  us 
Worse  than  the  dark  before." 

Well,  children,  wherever  you  are — there  is  a 
good  sprinkling  of  you  all  over  the  house,  I 
suppose,  I  know  it  is  so  of  the  town,  because 
Kernersville  is  famous  for  having  more  chil- 
dren in  it  than  any  town  of  its  size  in  the 
world.  I  am  going  to  read  you  a  little  speech, 
if  it  deserves  a  name  so  grand,  because  I  was 
just  too  busy  to  get  it  by  heart.  My  business! 
Aunt  Rights  would  call  it  laziness  if  she  were 


*  He  was  medium  size  and  young. 
[90] 


talking  to  you.  Little  folks,  when  j^our  Com- 
mittee of  Gentlemen  had  asked  me  to  come 
down  and  deliver  an  address  for  you,  I  puzzled 
and  puzzled  my  brain,  and  sat  down  and 
thought  and  thought,  and  stood  up  and  walked 
around  with  my  hands  crossed  behind  my  back 
and  thought,  and  run  my  fingers  through  my 
hair,  and  scratched  my  head  and  thought  again, 
what  shall  I  talk  to  those  children  about?  I 
did  just  like  you  have  done,  or  will  do,  when 
you  come  to  write  compositions.  I  thought, 
like  you  have  done  or  will  do,  about  the  cow — 
that  would  not  do  to  make  a  literary  address 
upon.  I  thought  about  spring,  the  happiest  of 
the  year — the  soft  springtime,  the  season  of 
flowers  and  green  leav^es  and  whispering  winds — 
that  wouldn't  do.  Then  about  the  horse,  the 
noblest  animal;  then  about  country  life,  the 
sweetest  life  of  all.  And  I  thought  all  about 
squirrels  and  rabbit-gums,  and  dogs  and  part- 
ridge-traps, and  fish-hooks,  and  robbing  birds' 
nests,  and  stealing  watermelons,  and  running 
away  and  going  a-swimming.  Well,  none  of 
those  would  do,  and  the  first  thing  I  knew  my 
mind  was  on  soda-water,  and  oysters,  and  ice- 

[91] 


cream,  and  butter  and  bread,  and  candy.  Well, 
that  would  not  do.  My  mind  turned  to  politics, 
education,  sewing-machines,  velocipedes,  print- 
ine-presses,  telegraph  strikes,  riots,  lynching, 
mob  law,  Wall-street  gambling,  banks  breaking, 
nominating  conventions;  and  I  thought  of  the 
"  dear  people,"  railroads,  steam-engines,  bal- 
loons, earthquakes,  hurricanes,  tornadoes,  and 
flying  horses,  and  by  this  time  my  mind  was  all 
in  an  electric  shiver.  In  a  minute  I  thought  of 
a  thousand  topics  upon  which  to  address  you. 
My  lamp,  pen,  inkstand,  paper,  books,  tables, 
chairs,  desks,  carpet,  stoves,  barber-shops,  banks, 
churches,  overskirts,  Mother-Hubbard  dresses, 
sea-shell  hats,  frizzled  hair  and  bangs,  and  balk}^ 
horses,  and  drunken  men  and  crazy  women, 
jumping  sheep,  and  female  suffrage,  law^^ers, 
doctors,  preachers,  farmers,  merchants,  snakes, 
girls,  babies.  All  at  once  my  brain  cooled  and 
I  thought  of  the  boys,  and  determined  that  The 
Boy  should  be  my  subject,  because 

"  The  boys  are  better  than  all  the  ballads 
That  were  ever  sung  or  said  ; 
For  they  are  living  poems, 
And  all  the  rest  are  dead." 

[92] 


I  feel  I  have  a  broad,  unplowed  field  before 
me,  because  nobody  ever  cultivated  the  boy. 
Everybod}^  shuns  him.  And,  little  folks,  I'll 
leave  it  to  the  old  ones  to  say  if  it  isn't  mighty 
nigh  true,  when  everybody  does  a  thing  they 
are  about  two-thirds  right  in  it.  So  I  shall  ad- 
vise no  one  to  shun  my  subject.  There  are  two 
kinds  of  horses,  the  white  horse  and  the  black 
horse.  I  believe  1  am  trying  to  shun  my  own 
subject.  I  should  have  said  there  are  two  kinds 
of  boys,  the  white  boy  and  the  l)hick  boy.  Then 
there  are  many  other  kinds  of  boj^s — the  good 
bo3%  who  goes  to  Sunday  school,  and  the  bad 
boy,  who  don't  go  to  Sunday  school;  tlie  lying 
boy,  who  don't  tell  the  truth,  and  then  there 
goes  the  curly-headed  truthful  boy,  who  never 
told  a  lie — a  hatchet  kind  of  George  Washing- 
ton bo3\  Children,  I  don't  know  whether  that 
story  about  George  Washington  never  having 
told  a  falsehood  is  true  or  not.  As  to  the  cut- 
ting of  that  cherry  tree,  I  am  informed  that  he 
did  tell  a  story.  There  was  a  little  negro  boy 
on  the  plantation  where  George  lived  named 
Ike,  and  when  George's  father  got  after  him  for 
cutting    the    tree   which    he    had    cut,   George 

[93] 


promptly  replied,  like  you  or  I  would  have 
done,  that  Ike  did  it.  His  father  understood 
him  to  say  I  did  it;  and  because  of  this  little 
misunderstanding  between  George  and  his 
father,  his  father  was  imposed  upon,  and  a 
credulous  public  has  ever  since  been  imposed 
upon.  At  any  rate,  that  is  what  the  latest 
books  across  Mason  &  Dixon's  line  say  about 
the  Father  of  his  Country.  Then  there  is  your 
mammy-boy,  that  is  tied  hand  and  foot  by  her 
apron  strings.  When  he  grows  up  and  gets  mar- 
ried he'll  be  known  as  a  hen-pecked  husband. 
Then  there's  the  cry-baby  boy.  [  always  feel 
sorry  for  him.  He  looks  up  and  he  looks 
down,  and  then  he  looks  around,  and  everv 
way  so  appealingly,  his  mouth  quivers  pite- 
ously,  and  finally  he  bursts  out  into  tears.  He 
feels  better  then,  and  I  do  too.  Then  there's 
the  big  boy,  full  of  young  life  and  careless  hope. 
The  little  boy,  whose  life  is  one  continual  round 
of  sorrow,  fear,  and  dread,  because  of  the  big 
boy — a  kind  of  shorn  Samson  among  the  little 
ones,  who  is  liable  at  anv  moment  to  knock  off 
his  hat  or  tread  on  his  toes,  and  his  stumped  one 
at  that.     The   only  pleasure  of   his   life   is   in 

[94] 


showing  that  sore  toe  to  another  little  boy. 
Sometimes  he  puts  on  an  air  of  self-denial  and 
melancholy  grandeur  and  won't  show  it  unless 
the  other  little  boy  pays  him  a  stick  of  chewing 
gum.  There's  the  romantic  boy,  that  wants  to 
hunt  "  Injuns."  His  imagination  is  distorted. 
He  has  got  a  wild  longing  and  a  maddening 
desire  to  do  something.  You  can  always  tell 
him  by  the  rolling  of  his  eyes,  the  twitching  of 
his  fingers,  the  stiffness  of  his  hair  as  it  stands 
on  end  "like  the  quills  of  the  fretful  porcu- 
pine," and  by  his  general  restlessness.  He  reads 
dime  novels.  Another  kind  of  boy  is  the  good- 
natured,  good-hearted  boy,  that  would  go  home 
with  the  Old  Boy  if  he  were  only  to  invite  him, 
for  fear  of  hurting  his  feelings  by  refusing. 
Such  a  boy  need  not  churn;  butter  won't  come 
for  him.  There's  the  cross  boy,  that  has  been 
raised  on  vinegar  and  ten-penny  nails  and  rail- 
road spikes.  The  tone  of  his  voice  is  cold 
enough  to  freeze  his  own  ears,  and  nothing  but 
sickly  smiles  come  over  his  ever  drawn-up-to- 
cry  face.  All  the  home  he  will  ever  have  or 
ought  to  have  will  be  an  umbrella  and  a  stump. 
The  laughing,   gay  boy,   who    smiles   away  all 

[95] 


sadness,  and  across  whose  memory  nothing  flits 
but  soft  dreams.  True,  he  drowns  kittens,  but 
hens  lay  eggs  for  him.  Then  there's  the  lazy, 
sleepy-headed  boy !  You  had  better  mow  a  five- 
acre  lot  in  dog  days  than  try  to  get  anything  out 
of  him.  His  wife  will  have  to  cut  the  wood  and 
build  the  fires,  and  make  soap  and  hang  out 
the  clothes,  cord  the  wood  and  kill  the  hogs. 

"  But  little  he'll  wreck  if  they  let  him  sleep  on 
In  the  bed  where  his  laziness  has  lain  him." 

There's  the  tard}'  boy,  that  is  never  at  school 
in  time — always  comes  late.  I  won't  say  any- 
thing about  him.  I  might  get  on  too  many  toes 
at  once.  Then  there  is  the  sugar  boy;  nobody 
ever  got  acquainted  with  him  but  his  mother. 
The  dreaming  boy,  who  is  always  sketching  in 
his  imagination  legends  of  the  past,  pictures  of 
the  present,  and  air  castles  for  the  future. 

The  brave  boy,  who  would  stand  in  the  fore- 
front of  battle  and  never  quail.  The  trul}^  brave 
boy,  that  dares  to  say  and  do  the  right,  regard- 
less of  results.  There's  the  high-cheek  boy  and 
the  low-cheek  boy,  the  pale-cheek  boy  and  the 
rosy-cheek  bo}^,  the  shame-cheek  boy  and  the 
cheek-of-a-mule  bo}^  who  is  made  out  of  brass, 

[96] 


There's  the  polite  boy,  who  raises  his  hat  when- 
ever he  sees  a  piece  of  calico,  even  if  it  don't 
wrap  up  more  than  one  pound  of  smoking  to- 
bacco. Oh!  there  are  as  many  different  kinds 
of  these  bipeds  as  there  are  boys  in  the  world. 
There's  the  black-haired  bo}',  and  the  blue-e3^ed 
boy,  and  the  white-headed  boy,  and  the  two- 
headed  boy,  and  the  hard-headed  boy,  the 
climb-over-the-back-fence  kind  of  boy,  run-. 
3^ou-crazy  kind  of  boy,  fidgety  can't-be-still  kind 
of  boy. 

Some  folks  say  that  a  boy  is  like  a  mule,  be- 
cause a  mule  will  be  a  mule  and  a  boy  will  be  a 
bo}^;  but  that's  a  mistake,  for  a  boy  will  be  a 
man,  or,  perhaps,  a  dude.  Well,  boys,  they  say 
that  the  boy  is  father  to  the  man;  that  what 
the  bo}^  is  that  the  man  will  be.  Then  it  will 
be  well  for  you  to  look  to  it  and  see  which  of 
these  kind  of  boj^s  3^ou  are.  And  I  might  say 
to  the  girls  to  look  to  their  laurels,  for  with 
them  there  are  little  girls,  and  big  girls,  and 
sour  girls,  and  sweet  girls,  and  pretty  girls,  and 
ugl}^  girls — all  the  same  as  the  boys,  only  there 
is  no  such  thing  on  the  face  of  this  broad  earth 
as  an  old  girl. 

M  [  97  ] 


The  boy's  page  is  tlie  brightest  page  any  e3^es 
ever  scanned  in  tlie  blotted  vokime  of  life.  But 
there  are  too  many  queer  rollicking,  funny,  se- 
rious, pleasant  pictures  upon  it  to  note  them  all. 
We  could,  but  we  must    not  stop  to  think  and 
look  upon,  for  a  great  while,  that  picture  of  a 
well-natured    boy,    brave    and    gentle,    warm- 
hearted  and  loving,  looking  the  world   in  the 
face,  with  kind,  honest  eyes.  But  the  boy,  him- 
self, looks  out  from  his  heart  upon   the  world 
and  life,  as  they  lay  before  him,  and  hastens  to 
turn  the  leaf,  and  we  must,  too.     In  after  days 
he   will   reflect  back   upon  it,  and   muse   what 
bright  colors  it  wore  then,  and  how  he  enjo3^ed 
them.    A  man  has  not  many  years  of  such  time. 
He  does   not  know  them  while   they  are  with 
him.     It   is  onl}^  when  they  are  passed  along 
and  away  that   he   remembers    how  dear   and 
happy  they  were.     'Tis  well  for  the  boy  who  en- 
ters the  arena  of  life  willingly;  for,  willingly  or 
unwillingly,  sooner  or  later,  time  will  force  him 
into  the  conflict. 

Now,  bo3^s,  while  you  have  a  predisposition 
and  a  natural  propensity  for  climbing  trees, 
robbing  birds'  nests  and  breaking  your  necks — 

[98] 


still  you  may  put  yourself  to  better  purposes. 
The  Great  God,  your  Creator,  intended  j^ou 
should.  You  are  the  hope  of  the  world.  With- 
out the  boys  what  will  have  become  of  the  State 
and  country  fifty  years  hence?  Then  the  boj^s 
will  be  ruling,  who  are,  to-day,  too  shortlegged 
to  reach  from  the  bench  to  the  floor.  And  the 
name  of  some  boy  may  blaze  a  star,  or  a  meteor, 
in  the  front  of  troubled  nations,  and  at  whose 
words  blood  may  flow  in  torrents,  and  cities 
flame  in  blazes,  as  he  stays  the  tide  that  is  about 
to  sweep  away  the  last  remnant  of  his  country's 
liberty. 

If  there  is  such  a  great  responsibility  resting 
upon  the  boy — then  is  there  not  a  greater  re- 
sponsibility resting  upon  those  who  have  them 
to  bring  up?  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  grown 
up  people  are  prone  to  consider  us  boys  with  too 
little  regard — though  the  scliools  and  the  Sunday 
schools,  throughout  the  land,  prove  that  the 
people  are  waking  up  to  the  importance  of  a 
correct  training  for  the  young;  yet,  in  the  pov- 
erty and  wretchedness  of  our  great  cities,  how 
many  bo3^s  there  are  like  Dickens'  Oliver  Twist, 
who   are  cuff'ed  and  buffeted — despised   by  all 

[99] 


and  pitied  by  none.  Like  Oliver,  as  a  sense  of 
his  loneliness  in  the  great  wide  world,  would 
sink  into  heart,  he  would  often  wish  as  he  crept 
into  his  narrow  bed  that  that  were  his  coffin, 
and  that  he  could  be  lain  in  a  calm  and  lasting 
sleep  in  the  church  yard  ground,  with  the  tall 
grass  waving  gently  above  his  head,  and  the 
sound  of  the  old  deep  bell  to  soothe  him  in  his 
sleep. 

Some  people  never  see  any  difference  in 
boys.  They  only  know  two  sorts — mealy  boys 
and  beef-faced  boys.  They  only  see  their  round 
heads,  red  faces,  glaring  eyes  and  wolfish  appe- 
tites. They  see  no  changing  expressions  of 
sweetness  and  good  humor — the  smiles,  the 
cheerful,  happy  smiles,  the  thousand  lights  that 
play  about  the  face  and  leave  no  shadow  there 
— they  are  not.  By  their  blindness  they  succeed 
in  shifting  from  their  conscience  the  duties  they 
owe  themselves,  their  boys,  their  country  and 
their  God. 

Boys,  the  greatest  and  most  essential  thing  to 
your  peace  and  comfort  here  and  happiness 
hereafter  is  character.  Strive  for  that!  Little 
things  and  every  day  duties  make  the  man  and 

[  loo  ] 


his    character.     Don't     forget    that    character 
grows;  that  it  is  not  something  to  pat  on,  ready 
made  with  manhood;  but,  day  by  day,  here  a 
little  and  there  a  little,  it  grows  with  the  growth, 
and  strengthens  with  the  strength,  until,  good 
or  bad,  it  becomes  almost  a  coat  of  mail.    Look 
at  a    man   of  business,  prompt,  reliable,    con- 
scientious,   yet    clear    headed    and    energetic. 
When  do  you  suppose  he  developed  all  those 
admirable  qualities?    When  he  was  a  boy.    Let 
us  see  the  way  in  which  a  boy  often  gets  up  in  the 
morning,  works,  plays,  studies,  and  we  will  tell 
you  just  what  kind  of  a  man  he  will  make.  'Tis 
little  things  that  grow  every  boy  into  that  which 
is  good  or  into  that  which  is  bad.    Little  things 
will  plant  in  your  heart  seeds  that  will  spring 
up  and  redound   to   your   everlasting  welfare; 
while  little  things  will  instill  into  your  soul  a  poi- 
son which  will  blacken  and  change  it  here  and 
forever. 

Little  things  have  gradually  built  men  up 
to  enable  them  to  perform  the  grandest  of 
achievements;  while  little  things  have  brought 
man  to  the  lowest  level  with  the  blackest  of 
black   hearts,   and   caused  him   to  commit  the 

[  loi] 


most  cruel  and  unnatural  deeds  that  have  ever 
been  committed  under  cover  of  darkness  since 
night  hung  over  the  world.  Boys,  look  to  these 
little  things  that  creep  into  your  characters. 
Be  honest — not  because  honesty  is  the  best  pol- 
icy— but  because  it  is  right,  because  it  is  noble, 
because  it  is  manly. 

Bo3^s,  cultivate  a  cheerful  disposition!  What 
but  youth  can  echo  back  the  soul  of  youth  all 
the  music  of  its  wild  vanities  and  romantic  fol- 
lies? Let  the  sunshine  of  the  summer  morning 
shine  cloudless  over  your  pathway  of  life. 
Boys,  be  energetic.  Be  alive  and  wide-awake. 
Attention,  application,  accuracy,  method,  punc- 
tuality and  dispatch  will  crown  your  efforts 
with  success. 

Know  that  labor  of  any  kind — the  blister  of 
the  hand  or  the  blister  of  the  brain — is  the  high- 
est virtue.  Despise  not  the  day  of  small  things, 
but  that  which  your  hand  finds  to  do,  do  it  with 
your  might.  There  is  a  grand  opening  for  the 
boys  in  this  country  who  have  the  brain  for 
conceiving  and  the  muscle  for  execution — boys 
who  are  to  grow  into  men  with  sound  senses 
and   open  eyes.    The   cry  is  no   longer   heard 

[  I02  ] 


throughout  the  hand:  "Young  man,  go  West." 
He  wlio  moves  his  arm  to  do  and  dare — he  who 
puts  his  shoulder  blades  to  the  wheel,  will  have 
no  lines  in  after-life  to  rub  out;  and  When  he 
sits  down,  in  his  old  age,  and  his  thoughts  go 
far  back,  and  are  busy  with  the  past — the  past 
of  his  boyhood  days,  his  memories  will  be  sweet 
and  pleasant. 

"  He  can  tell  you  what  he's  done  for  right  and  truth, 
For  God  and  man, 
From  the  golden  hours  of  bright-eyed  youth 
To  life's  mid-span." 

Be  stout-hearted  and  remember  that  your  for- 
tune depends  upon  your  own  efforts  and  deserts. 
Remember  that  when  you  fall  into  the  river  and 
struggle  of  life,  "Its  good  night,  sink  or  swim, 
little  buttercups."  "  There  shall  be  no  Alps," 
exclaimed  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  as  his  young 
ambition  was  fired.  Every  boy  feels  his  pulses 
quicken  and  his  eye  flash  at  the  sound  of  that 
name.  Not  even  the  dreary  banishment  to  St. 
Helena  can  quite  eclipse,  in  his  mind,  that  me- 
teor-like splendor  of  his  advance  from  an  ob- 
scure military  position  to  the  throne  of  an  em- 
pire.    While   all  cannot    climb  to    some    lofty 

[  ^03  ] 


niche  in  the  temple  of  fame,  still  no  truer,  no 
more  inspiring  and  encouraging  sentiment  to 
the  3^outh  of  our  land   was   ever  uttered  than 
that  ^'  every  man  is  tlie  architect  of  his  own  for- 
tune."    Wise  men  and  profound  philosophers 
all  tell  us  that  thonghts  once  awakened  can  never 
slumber  again.     If  I  can  impress  that  thought, 
that  idea,  that  truth,  that  reality,  that  every  man 
is  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune — that  you 
have  your  mind  given  you,  not  that  it  may  cavil 
and  argue,  but  that  it  may  see  into  something 
whereon  you  are  to  proceed  and  act — that  you 
will    be    what    3^ou    make    ^^ourself — that   the 
blessed  sun  shines  for  all — that  the  cunning  of 
your  ten    fingers,  the    strength   of  your    right 
arm — that  your  stern  integrity  of  character  and 
sincerity  of  purpose,  that  your  industry,  your 
perseverance,  your  self-culture,  that  your  will, 
your  uprightness,  your  honesty,  qualities  which 
are  the  true  glory  of  human  character,  all,  all 
are  the  measures  by  which  success  will  be  meted 
out  to  you;  that  they  will  fill  your  soul  with 
noble  ardors,   affections  and   aspirations;   that 
they  will  work  out  your  life  task — that  they  will 

be  stars  for  you  to  follow  which  will  lead  you  to 

[  104  ] 


a  glorious  haven,  I  will  feel  content  and  abund- 
antly repaid  for  what  I  have  said  to-night. 

"  If  what  shone  afar  so  grand, 
Turn  to  nothing  in  thy  hand, 
On  again,  the  virtue  lies, 
In  the  struggle,  not  the  prize." 

June  6th,  1884. 

iTulurc  of  |)ieDmont,  N,  QE. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen, — B}^  request  1  am  here 
to-day  to  deliver  an  address,  if  I  may  be  par- 
doned for  using  a  phrase  so  high-sounding,  be- 
fore this  Literary  and  Musical  School.  I  deem 
myself  remarkably  fortunate  to  have  the  honor 
of  speaking  to  you  who  are  interested  in  these 
subjects — Literature  and  Music — which  I  know 
and  feel  we  hold  so  thoroughly  in  common.  I 
need  not  tell  you  of  the  immense  delight  that  I 
have  experienced  in  the  abundant  fields  of 
Literature — of  the  many  dear,  long  nights  I 
have  spent  in  sweet  converse  with  the  grand 
old  masters — Shakspeare,  Scott,  Byron,  Mil- 
ton, Bunyan,  Burke,  and  it  will  be  enough  for 
you  to  know  of  the  inestimable  amount  of  music 
that  there  is  in  my  soul.      It  is  tliere  in  abund- 

[  105  ] 


ance;  or,  at  least,  it  ought  to  be,  for  I  have  not 
been  able  to  get  any  of  it  out  since  my  days  of 
bibs  and  cradles,  when  it  came  out  in  bawls. 
The  greatest  delineator  of  human  character  has 
said,  "  He  that  hath  no  music  in  his  soul,  is  fit 
for  treason,  strategems,  and  spoils!  "  For  this 
reason  I  would  never  make  a  draw  on  the  music 
that  is  in  me  for  fear  I  might  draw  too  heavy. 
From  the  wa}^  some  of  these  folks  have  been 
singing  here  to-day,  if  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
pumping  all  the  music  out  a  man's  soul  it's  my 
opinion  that  Yadkin  county  is  destined  to  turn 
out  some  full  fledged  traitors.  Guess  some  of 
them  will  be  trying  for  spoils,  too.  I  am  a  good 
ways  from  home,  and  am  rather  spoilt  m^^self. 
I  am  kind  of  uneasy — but  then  I  shall  not  care 
for  that — ^just  so  the  sweetest  singer  gets  me — I 
know  it  won't  be  a  man. 

But,  seriously  !  I  trust  we  are  here  to-day  for 
some  purpose !  If  I  am  fortunate  enough  to  let 
one  word  drop  from  m}^  lips  to-day  to  encourage 
and  inspire  a  single  man  or  woman,  a  single 
boy  or  girl,  to  press  onward  in  the  faithful  dis- 
charge of  duties  owing  to  themselves  and  their 
neighbors,  to  their  State  and  their  country,   I 

[  ^06  ] 


shall  feel  abundantly  repaid  for  my  visit  from 
Winston  lo  Yadkin  county. 

I  come  to  speak  to  you  to-day  upon  the  fu- 
ture of  Western  North  Carolina.     Of  its  possi- 
bilities more  than  its  probabilities.  I  am  a  great 
believer — I  have  a  wonderful  confidence  in  the 
future  glory  and  prosperity  of  the  Old  North 
State  ;  and' for  fear  my  speech  should  grow  too 
strongly  tinctured  with  enthusiasm,  for  fear  I 
dip   my  pen  too  deeply  into  my  imagination/ 
thereby  causing  some  very  matter-of-fact  people 
to  go  away  and  say  that  it  was  all  visionary;  he 
didn't  know  what  he  was  talking  about— he  said 
some  most  ridiculously  absurd  things;   he  as- 
serted this,  and  he  asserted  that— I  say  out  of 
abundance  of  caution  to  protect  myself,  I  will 
now  announce  that  I  reserve  the  privilege^  to 
deny  anything  that  I  may  be  accused  of  having 
said.     If   any  one  goes  away  and  tells  that  I 
said  that,  I'h  proceed  to  deny  it  flatly.  I  just  now 
told  you  that  I  propose  to  talk  about  the  future. 
Welf,  a  man  who  talks   about  the  future  should 
be  a  prophet.     But  I  am  not  a  prophet,  neither 
am  I   the  son  of  a  prophet.     But  I  am  willing 
to  risk  my  reputation  as  one  in  prophesying  for 

[  107  ] 


North  Carolina  to-day,  reserving  the  privilege 
of  denying  having  said  anything  that  I  may 
say.  In  Old  Testament  times  the  Jewish 
prophets,  when  preparing  for  a  public  career, 
used  to  retire  to  solitary  places — to  the  caves  of 
the  rock  or  the  hollow  bosom  of  the  hills,  or 
the  depths  of  the  wilderness — there  gazing  upon 
the  grand  movements  of  the  universe  and  mus- 
ing upon  the  history  of  the  human  race,  they 
became  acquainted  with  the  ways  of  God  in 
nature  and  in  providence — inspirations — 

"Inspirations  unfathomed  and  untrod, 
Save  by  even  and  morn  and  the  angels  of  God." 

came  upon  them.  They  felt  themselves  filled— 
possessed  with  a  divine  message,  and  returning 
to  the  haunts  of  men,  they  proclaimed  their 
message  to  the  nation  with  a  voice  like  a  trum- 
pet. Such  inspirations,  with  the  grand  old 
men  of  God,  have  passed  away  and  vanished 
forever.  But  to-da}^  man,  mingling  with  his 
fellow-man  and  profiting  and  judging  by  the 
lessons  taught  by  the  history  of  the  past,  may 
in  his  cool,  calculating  way,  foretell  the  peace, 
prosperity,  and  glory  that  are  about  to  be  show- 

[.08] 


ered  down  upon  a  people.     I  feel  no  hesitancy 
to-day  in  saying  to  you  that  I  can  now  seethe 
long  black  lines  of  the  clouds   of  peace;  that 
great  thunder  heads  of  prosperity  are  showing 
themselves  along  the  western  horizon,  and  that 
the  lightning  of  future  glory  is  playing  around 
our  heads  as  a  people.     All  the  requisite  signs 
of  a  refreshing  shower  are  now  making  them- 
selves plainly  visible.     The  final  coming  of  that 
much-to-be-desired  rain  depends  upon  our  ef- 
forts and  deserts.     It  is  to  be  a  general  rain, 
extending  over  the  whole  of  this  continent  of 
fifty  million  people,  but  it  will   not  come  alike 
upon  the  just  and  the  unjust— alike  upon  the 
energetic    and    the    slothful.     The  energy  and 
the  effort  put  forth  by  each  and  every  individ- 
ual will  aid  in  swelling  the  deep  flood  that  is 
to  sweep  over  the  land. 

North  Carolina  has  been  called  the  Rip  Van 
Winkle  of  the  States  of  the  Union.  The  ques- 
tion is,  Shall  she  awake;  shall  she  arouse  and 
shake  oflP  her  lethargy?  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
pledge  my  word  for  Western  North  Carolina. 
Already  is  she  disclaiming  her  caterpillar  exist- 
ence and  putting  on  the  beautiful  colors  of  the 

[  109  ] 


butterfly.  The  frost  of  age  is  thawing  out.  Al- 
ready has  she  awakened.  Ah-eady  has  she 
aroused  and  shaken  off  her  slothfuhiess,  and 
is  now  surely,  if  not  rapidly,  advancing  in  the 
line  of  civilization,  education,  and  progress. 
Lights  of  morning  in  the  golden  east  stream 
along  and  across  her  horizon.  To-day  she  is 
flushed  with  success  and  sanguine  in  hopes.  I 
for  one  have  no  regrets,  but  cannot  lift  unflinch- 
ingly the  pall  from  the  bier  of  her  dead  past. 
I  for  one  have  no  fear  for  her  future.  The 
burdens  that  she  has  in  times  gone  by  groaned 
under,  my  heart  sickens  to  think  of  and  my 
tongue  falters  to  utter.  But  whatever  mistakes 
may  have  been  made,  into  whatever  lap  of  a 
false  destiny  she  may  have  fallen,  whether  the 
memory  of  her  history  as  a  State  is  unsullied 
or  not,  although  many  within  the  sound  of  my 
voice  remember  well  when  her  roadway  was 
hung  in  funeral  blackness,  how  excited  passions 
and  embittered  prejudices  blotted  and  blurred 
every  feeling  of  humanity;  how  the  foundations 
of  society  were  upheaved  by  father  being  set 
against  son  and  son  against  father;  well  do  you 
remember  the  terrible  conflict  of  arms  and  the 


bloody  scenes   of  battle.     Although  the  young 
man  of  to-day  never  knew  any  other  lullaby  in 
the  gloomy  dawn  of  his  childhood  than  the  din 
and  roar  of   the    fight    and    the    trampling  of 
iiorses'  hoofs,  still  Western  North   Carolina  is 
catching  fresh  zeal  and  new  fire,  and  from  no 
ray  of  hope,  but  from  amidst  the  deepest  dark- 
ne'ss  in  which  a  nation  was  ever  Avrapped,  the 
prospect  of   peace,  concord,  liberty  and  justice 
is  breaking  forth ;  for  all  which  let  us  shout  notes 
of  praise  and  infinite   gratitude    to   Him  who 
shapes  the  fortunes  of  men  and  rules  the  desti- 
nies of  nations.     Let  us  forget  the  past.     Let 
the  poet  sing  of  the  future,  and  all  of  us  grow 
visionary  and  enthusiastic  over  the  Utopia  that 
may  be  founded  here.     Why  should  this  section 
of  country  in  which  we  live  not  become  a  rich, 
educated,  prosperous,   and   happy  part  of  the 
Union,   excelled   by   no    spot  in   these   United 
States   or   on   the  face  of  the  green   earth?     I 
know    no    reason    why   it   should    not.      Why 
should   it  become   rich,  educated,    prosperous, 
and  happy,  and  to  a  degree  equaling  and  excell- 
ing other  portions  of  our  common  country?     I 
know  many  reasons  why  it  should. 

[  I"  ] 


The  greatest  of  all  lands  depends  upon  the 
wealth  of  its  soil.  England,  with  all  her  maritime 
greatness,  would  be  unable  to  maintain  her  do- 
minion on  land  and  sea  but  for  the  inexhausti- 
ble resources  of  her  agricultural  and  mineral 
wealth.  These  products  of  a  countr3^'s  soil  are 
either  imbedded  by  nature  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  in  mineral  form  or  are  the  result  of  hus- 
bandry, when  they  appear  in  the  shape  of  cot- 
ton, wheat  and  tobacco,  or  a  spontaneous  out- 
growth of  magnificent  timber.  Added  to  these 
natural  resources  are  the  water  powers  of  the 
countr}^  and  its  climate.  Any  people  who  can 
grow  wheat  and  raise  beef  are  capable  of  be- 
coming a  great  race.  Here,  in  Western  North 
Carolina,  are  all  the  advantages  which  I  have 
enumerated.  Our  streams  run  in  a  thousand  di- 
rections. Our  mountain  forests  are  to  supply 
the  world  with  timber,  while  iron,  the  ultimate 
source  of  all  progress,  is  imbedded  in  inexhaus- 
tible supply  beneath  our  feet.  One  hundred 
years  from  to-day  this  country  around  about 
us  will  be  then  in  the  infancy  of  a  career  un- 
surpassed. Our  soil  can  be  rendered  by  cul- 
tivation as  fertile  as    can    be  found  anywhere; 


our  climate  is  tlie  very  best,  adapted  to  the 
growth  of  an}^  and  ever^'thing  from  the  grand, 
mighty,  gigantic,  eloquent  oaks  down  to  the  red 
lips  of  the  roses;  the  healtli  of  our  people  is  as 
fine  as  good  water  and  pure  mountain  air  can 
make  it;  our  territory  is  as  large  as  England, 
the  most  powerful  nation  on  the  globe;  our 
mineral  resources  are  inexhaustible;  enough 
water  runs  idly  away  from  the  single  rivei' — 
3^our  own  Yadkin — to  turn  all  the  spindles  and 
looms  in  Yankeedom;  our  mountains  are  as 
high;  our  sky  is  as  blue;  our  valleys  are  as 
broad;  our  rivers  are  as  deep;  our  men  are  as 
brave;  our  women  as  fair,  and  our  babies  are 
as  fat  and  as  sweet  as  any  the  sun  ever  shone 
upon. 

Then  what  is  it  we  lack  to  make  us  a  great 
people?  The  only  thing  lacking  is  to  put  in 
motion  and  to  use  the  many  and  great  things 
that  God  has  placed  at  our  disposal.  Apply  the 
strength  of  our  hands  and  the  courage  of  our 
hearts,  tempered  with  good  sense  and  sound 
policy,  and  the  task  is  completed.  Now,  are 
these  facts  all — is  it  simply  the  hand  of  hope 
beckoning  youth  to  the  golden  land  of  air-cas- 
o  [113] 


ties?  These  natural  advantages,  aided  by  a 
quickness  to  conceive  and  an  energy  to  execute, 
can  make  this  a  great  land.  It  must  be  done! 
/know  not  how!  Like  half-comprehended  no- 
tions that  flit  dimly  through  children's  brains, 
but  strangely  impressive,  I  feel,  and  I  tell  you, 
that  it  will  be  done!  With  us,  I  am  inclined 
to  think,  that  politics  has  always  played  too 
important  a  part  in  the  thoughts  of  our  people. 
Not  that  I  would  have  them  forget  that  "Eter- 
nal vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty  ";  not  but  that 
the  great  bulwarks  of  English  freedom  must  be 
closely  and  keenly  watched ;  not  but  that  the  peo- 
ple must  from  time  to  time  boldly,  fearlessly  and 
eflPectively  interfere  with  public  affairs,  for  they 
must  see  to  it  they  are  properly  burdened  with 
taxes;  the}^  must  hold  the  authorities  directly 
responsible  to  themselves.  They  must  see  to  it 
that  the  personal  liberty  of  no  individual,  how- 
ever humble,  is  violated  by  any  power,  however 
great.  The  old  and  sacred  right — trial  by  jury 
— must  be  maintained  at  the  expense  of  every 
drop  of  blood  throughout  the  land.  The  free- 
dom, purity  and  eternity  of  the  ballot-box  must 
be  defended  now  and  forever  if  we  are  to  live 

[  "4] 


in   a  free  country  and  live  freemen.     Here  it 
was  the   first  seeds  of  American  liberty  were 
sown;  here  lived  the  men  who  headed  the  In- 
surrection, drew  the   Mecklenburg  Declaration 
of  Independence;    and   while    the  world  stood 
amazed  at  their  fearlessness  and  audacity,  the 
neighboring  colonies  caught  on  fire  with  their 
spirit  of  freedom,  and  to-day  in  our  land  parlia- 
ments are  not  called  together  by  the  stroke  of 
the  pen  of  one  man  or  scattered  by  the  breath  of 
his  mouth.     Here  this  precious  spark  of  liberty 
was  kindled,  and  here  may  it  be  eternally  pre- 
served.   Then  surely  it  is  not  meet  that  it  should 
be  extinguished  here.  For  the  world,  I  would  not 
have  the  people  give  up  tlie  reins  of  government 
which  they    have  so    effectually    and    signally 
snatched  from  the  hands  of  kings,  tyrants  and 
despots.    They  must  continue  to  hold  those  reins 
if  the  horses  of  liberty  are  to  draw  the  chariot  of 
freedom  in  which  this  nation  to-day  rides,  and, I 
trust,  that  they  will  continue  to  hold  them  until 
eternity  rolls   her    wave  against   the  millenial 
strand.     I  only  mean  to  say  to  you  to  he  ener- 
getic, to  be  wide-awake  in  other  things  than  poli- 
tics. If  the  people  of  this  country  had  seasoned 

["5] 


their  thoughts  and  conversations  upon  politics 
with  education  and  agriculture  in  their  rightful 
and  legitimate  proportion,  North  Carolina  would 
be  to-day  what  she  will  be  some  time — the  fore- 
most State  of  all  this  Union.     Let  our  people, 
when  they  come  together  on  occasions  like  these, 
learn   to  talk  of  something  else  than   politics. 
Politics  deserve  a  high  seat  in  the  minds  of  all 
men;  but  let  them  not  usurp  the  positions  that 
other  things  require  and  demand.     Agriculture, 
minerals,  education,    machinery,  railroads  and 
other  topics  that  must  inevitably  lead  to  the 
development  of    this    great  country,  ask  a  mo- 
ment's   consideration    at   your  hands.      I    am 
happy  to  say,  and  know,  that  these  are  engaging 
the  attention  of  the  leading  minds  among  us. 
Slowl}^  and  surely  the  methods  and  results  of 
agriculture  are  being  made  greater  and  better. 
All  the  improved  machinery  is  being  more  and 
more,  day  by  da}',  resorted   to.     The    mineral 
wealth  whose  veins  are  almost  bursting    with 
anxiety,  arrogance  and  pride,  to  show  their  vast 
fertility,    richness  and  splendor,    is  being  dug 
from  its  deep,  dark  cavern  home.  Almost  every 
county  in   the   State  has  its  railroad   and  the 

[  1^6] 


whistle  of  the  iron-horse  tells  the  time  of  day 
for  nearly  every  household  in  North  Carolina. 
Our  people  have  never  shown  more  zeal  and 
attachment;  have  never  been  more  terribly  in 
earnest  and  more  keenly  alive  to  that  greatest 
of  all  motive  powers — Education — in  making  a 
community  prosperous  and  great.  Education 
is  rearing  its  head  high  above  the  filth  and  scum 
of  ignorance,  in  which  it  has  so  long  been  buried, 
and  bids  fair  to  weild  the  influence  for.  good 
with  us;  that  it,  and  it  alone,  can  weild.  An  edu- 
cated people  are  the  freest  people.  An  educated 
people  are  the  richest  people.  When  a  fair 
standard  of  education  has  been  fixed  and  ever}^ 
man  aspires  to  it  as  near  as  he  can,  then,  and 
not  till  then,  will  our  country  be  truly  great.  It 
may  before  then  become  rich  and  powerful,  but 
not  truly  great.  It  is  too  true  that  this  is  the 
time  and  reign  of  money.  Crafty  avarice  has 
transplanted  the  brilliant  chivalry  of  the  by- 
gone age.  One  hundred  and  more  years  ago 
Edmund  Burke,  in  the  following  words,  pro- 
nounced the  death-knell  and  funeral  oration  of 
the  decline  and  decay  of  that  brightest  of  all 
time:   "I    thought  ten  thousand   swords    must 

[117] 


have  leaped  from  their  scabbards  to  avenge  even 
a  look  that  threatened  her  with  insult.  But 
the  age  of  chivalry  is  gone;  that  of  sophisters, 
economists,  and  calculators  has  succeeded;  and 
the  glory  of  Europe  is  extinguished  forever. 
Never,  never  more  shall  we  behold  that  generous 
royalty  to  rank  and  sex,  that  proud  submission, 
that  dignified  obedience,  that  subordination  of 
the  heart,  which  kept  alive  even  in  servitude 
itself  the  spirit  of  an  exalted  freedom.  The 
unbought  grace  of  life,  the  cheap  defense  of  na- 
tions, the  nurse  of  manly  sentiment  and  heroic 
enterprise,  is  gone!  It  is  gone,  that  sensibility 
of  principle,  that  chastity  of  honor,  which  felt 
a  stain  like  a  wound,  which  inspired  courage 
while  it  mitigated  ferocity,  which  ennobled 
whatever  it  touched,  and  under  which  vice 
itself  lost  half  its  evil,  by  losing  all  its  gross- 
ness."  Yes,  that's  all  gone,  and  we  can  do  noth- 
ing but  make  the  best  we  can  of  this  our  day  of 
money  and  corruption.  I  like  to  see  a  man  in 
the  lead,  let  his  cause  be  good  or  bad.  So  I 
want  to  see  my  country  grow  the  richest  of  them 
all,  even  if  it  is  at  the  expense  of  becoming  the 
most  corrupt.     That's  bad  morals,  but  the  ten- 

[ii8] 


dencv  of  our  day  and  time  makes  it  truthful 
and  indisputable  logic.     Money,   the  trash  of 
other  men  and  other  times,  is  the  God  of  ours. 
Money  we  can  make  here  and  have  our  country 
blossom  like  the  rose,  if  we  only  put  forth  the 
proper  effort  and  energy.     Massachusetts,  one 
of  the  richest  States  in  the  Union,  has  made 
her  wealth  off  of  nothing  but  patent  churns  and 
the   double  back-action   rotary    cut   and    come 
again  self-adjusting  pumps  and  self-acting  rock- 
ing cradles,  patent  medicines,  and  wooden  nut- 
megs, and  they  had  to  get  the  wood  of  us.    We, 
in  natural  resources,  are  the  richest.    We've  got 
soil,  we've  got  territory,  we've  got  climate,  we've 
got  water-power,  we've  got    muscle,  we've  got 
brain  to  do  anything  that  man  has  ever  done. 
The  only  question  is  have  we  the  energy  and 
riianhood  to  take  advantage  of  these  things  that 
lay  within  our  grasp?     We  need  pluck,  perse- 
verance,   determination,   the    "  never-say-die  " 
spirit.     We  need  men  to  make  this  whole  coun- 
try   rich    as  our   garden-spots.     Around  every 
man's   house  we  find  at  least  one  rich  truck- 
patch  that  pays  him  ten  times  better  than  any 
other  land  he  owns.     If  one  place  on  the  plan- 

[  "9] 


tation  can  be  made  so  rich  and  fertile,  why 
can't  the  whole  plantation,  and  the  plantations 
throughout  Western  North  Carolina  be  turned 
into  what  our  country  should  be,  with  its  advan- 
tages— the  garden-spot  of  the  world?  We  need 
men  to  plow  deep.  We  need  men  to  build  us 
houses.  We  need  men  to  grade  us  better  high- 
ways. We  need  railroads.  We  want  to  see  every 
stream  that  pours  down  from  our  mountain- 
sides turning  machinery.  We  want  to  see  every 
boy  and  girl  able  to  read  and  write  and  pos- 
sessed of  a  fair  education  to  enable  them  to 
wage  successfully  the  battles  of  this  life.  We 
want  to  see  every  hillside  waiving  with  grain. 
We  want  to  see  the  land  dotted  with  school- 
houses  and  churches.  We  want  to  see  each  one 
of  our  farms  cut  up  into  fifty  acres.  We  want 
to  see  one  hundred  men  where  there  is  now  one. 
We  don't  want  to  see  any  more  emigration  from 
the  State.  We  want  to  see  a  love  for  North 
Carolina  written  upon  the  tablets  of  the  hearts 
of  all  her  sons  and  daughters.  We  want  to  see 
more  railroads — not  too  many — no,  not  too 
many,  because  we  want  to  be  masters  of  this 
country.    We  want  to  see  better  dirt-roads.    We 

[    I20] 


want  to  hear  the  clack  of  the  shuttle,  and  the 
hum  of  the  spindle  mingling  in   sweet  unison 
with  every  drop  of  water  as  it  runs  murmuring 
to  the  sea.     We  want  to  see  every  man  with  his 
wife  and  little  ones  sit  down  under  his  own  vine 
and  fig  tree,  and  worship  God  after  the  dictates 
of  his  own  conscience.     We  want  to  see  every 
man,  woman  and  child  in  Western  North  Caro- 
lina happy.     We  want  her  to  grow  in  such  a 
direction  and  manner  that  all  of  her  citizens 
from  the  humblest  to  the  highest  may  become 
so.     We  would  like  to  see  North  Carolina  grow 
greater,  abound  in  wealth,  advance  in  education 
and  civilization  until  she  shall  become  the  great- 
est State  of  the  many  great  States  of  the  grand- 
est nation  that  has  ever  been  written  upon  the 
scroll  of  history. 
June  27,  1883. 

HJelioerB  of  iHebals— JUcims  School. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  If  there  is  one  trait  in 
the  character  of  man  that  tends  more  than  any 
other  to  distinguish  him  from  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  animal  kingdom,  it  is  his  ambition. 


his  desire  to  excel.  And  if  there  be  one  thing 
above  all  others  that  is  especially  and  peculiarly 
delightful  to  the  average  American,  it  is  a  con- 
test. The  hue  and  cry  of  the  American  is  the 
man  who  has  beat  some  other  man  doing  some- 
thing. But  be  it  also  said,  to  the  everlasting 
praise  of  the  American  people,  that  the}^  have 
nothing  but  praise  and  admiration  for  the  man 
that  "goes  down  with  his  colors  flying."  From 
time  immemorial — long  before  Homer  wrote 
songs  or  Plato  taught  metaphysics — it  has  been 
customary,  among  the  more  enlightened  and 
highly-cultured  people  of  the  earth,  to  engage 
in  contests  wherein  prowess,  skill,  and  ability 
shower  upon  their  fortunate  possessor  laurels  of 
praise,  glory,  and  renown. 

While  these  medals  should  be  appreciated  for 
their  intrinsic  worth  and  beauty,  they  are  chiefly 
valuable  for  the  lessons  of  perseverance,  energy, 
and  determination  that  they  teach.  I  desire  to 
impress  upon  every  young  man  present  the  fact 
that  success  in  every  undertaking  depends  upon 
individual  exertion.  Every  medal  that  I  shall 
have  the  pleasure  and  honor  of  delivering  here 
to-day  will  have  been  won  by  the  exertion  of 

[  122  ] 


the  individual  who  receives  it.  It  was  the 
ambition  which  welled  up  from  his  own  soul 
that  now  places  the  coveted  medal  into  his 
hands  and  the  crown  of  triumph  upon  his 
forehead. 

Soon,  young  men,  you  will  be  engaged  in  the 
actual  contest  of  life;  and  let  me  tell  you,  that 
the  man  that  lives  in  this,  the  latter  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  in  this  section  of  these 
United  States,  stands  badly  in  need  of  all  the 
forces  of  his  nature  and  mind  that  contests  like 
these  develop  and  mature. 

History  has  no  parallel  to  the  generation  upon 
whose  final  decade  we  have  now  entered;  nor 
have  the  centuries  a  duplicate  to  ours,  now  so 
near  its  wane.  This  is  largely  due  to  the  free- 
dom that  the  individual  has  enjoyed  in  this 
country  under  our  form  of  government,  and  the 
spirit  of  competition,  contesting,  rivaling,  and 
excelling,  that  naturally  and  necessarily  exists. 
It  is  this  spirit  that  has  sharpened  man's  wits 
and  made  him  smarter  than  ever  before.  In 
time  gone  by,  if  man  had  a  purpose  to  accom- 
plish and  encountered  opposition,  he  met  that 
opposition  by  force  and  won  his  victory  by  blows 

[  123  ] 


and  a  fight.  To-da}^  opposition  is  encountered, 
and  it  is  met  by  smiles,  and  compliments  are 
bestowed,  and  you  are  literally  covered  with  lit- 
tle acts  of  consideration — all  of  which  simply 
means  that  your  head  is  being  greased  that  you 
may  the  more  easily  be  swallowed. 

Many  social  and  political  questions  are  arising 
that  the  educated  and  intelligent  .young  men  of 
this  country  will  have  to  solve.  For  more  than 
twenty-five  years  we  of  the  South  have  sit  sad 
and  desolateamid  the  ashes  of  our  ruins,  in  storm 
and  darkness,  amid  the  deep  execration  of  a  large 
section  of  our  common  country,  but  all  the 
while  with  apologies  for  nobody;  without  capital 
and  without  credit,  enforced  bankrupts,  beset 
on  every  hand  by  prejudices  and  animosities, 
the  people  of  the  South  have  been  and  are  build- 
ing their  waste  places,  and  now,  to  the  most 
casual  observer,  it  is  apparent  that  a  high  and 
mighty  tide  of  prosperity  is  about  to  sweep  over 
this  great  and  glorious  Southland.  If  you  are 
to  ride  upon  the  billows  of  this  great  prosperity, 
you  will  need  all  the  powers  that  have  been 
brought  into  action  to  make  it  possible  for  you 
to  win  these  medals. 

r  124] 


If  this  government  of  the  individual  is  to  be 
maintained  in  all  its  strength  and  grandeur;  if 
the  gulf  between  the  rich  and  poor  is  not  to  grow 
deeper  and  deeper  and  wider  and  wider;  if  we 
are  not  to  worship  mammon  and  the  golden  calf; 
if  we  are  not  to  submit  to  a  condition  of  things 
which  give  to  one  set  of  men  and  women  purple 
and  fine  linen,  and  to  the  other  wretchedness  and 
poverty;  if  the  monopolists  and  the  capitalists 
are  not  to  seat  themselves  upon  the  thrones  from 
which  our  forefathers  tore  kings  and  emperors; 
if  we  are  to  remain  that  which  has  always  been 
our  pride  and  glory,  a  nation  of  men  free  and 
equal,  then  every  young  man  who   is   about  to 
enter  upon  the  contest  of  life  will  greatly  need 
all  the  elements  of  character,  pluck  and  deter- 
mination that  have  been  displayed  here  to-day. 
May  Davis  School  and  all  other  institutions  of 
learning  throughout  the  land  continue  to  instill 
and  develop  such  characteristics  as  make  the 
sturdiest  manhood.     In  the  contest  of  life  may 
you  be  as  successful  as  in  the  one  just  closed.  I 
can  wish  you  no  greater  success. 

To  the   successful    contestants   I  tender  my 
hearty  congratulations.    You  have  a  right  to  feel 


proud,  and  I  know  you  do,  of  your  success.  I 
hazard  nothing  in  saying  to  you,  that  you  have 
the  congratulations  of  all  the  people  within  the 
sound  of  my  voice.  To  the  less  fortunate,  I 
take  pleasure  in  saying,  that  it  were  a  thousand 
times  better  to  have  tried  and  failed,  than  to 
have  never  tried  at  all. 

0un5a2-9cl)ool   <3lbbrcss. 

One  hundred  years  ago,  during  the  season 
that  birds  sing  and  twigs  shoot,  when  the  sun 
shines  and  the  flowers  swing  their  censor  and 
waft  their  odors,  there  was  seen  in  that  part  of 
the  quaint  old  town  Gloucester,  England,  known 
as  St.  Catherine's  Meadow,  a  man  and  woman 
in  deep  and  earnest  conversation.  As  the  man 
turned  and  wended  his  way  through  the  filth 
common  to  manufacturing  districts,  to  the  more 
respectable  and  cleanly  portion  of  the  commu- 
nity, high  and  mighty  thoughts  were  turning 
themselves  over  in  his  mind — thoughts  which, 
if  they  could  be  performed,  would  humanize 
and  Christianize  millions  of  souls.  These 
thoughts  had  been  inspired  by  the  sight  of  lit- 

[126] 


tie  rag-amufflns  playing  and  running  wild  in 
the  streets,  and  by  a  visit  that  had  just  been 
made  by  the  man  to  the  county  prison,  where, 
from  observation  and  by  conversing  with  the 
wretched  inmates,  who  were  starving  for  the 
want  of  bread,  and  dying  from  infectious  dis- 
eases, he  found  that  ignorance  was  the  link 
that  connected  and  fastened  crime  to  its  victim. 
The  woman  had  just  told  him  that  a  week  day 
was  no  comparison  in  idleness  and  wickedness 
to  the  Sabbath;  that  on  Sunday  the  streets  were 
filled  with  a  multitude  of  wretches,  who,  having 
no  employment  on  that  day,  spent  their  time  in 
noise  and  riot,  playing  at  chuck,  and  cursing 
and  swearing.  As  he  contemplated  the  short 
step,  how  many  of  their  children  would  be  taken 
from  the  street  to  the  ancient  walls  of  that  dis- 
mal prison,  which  stood  upon  the  banks  of  the 
mournful  Severn;  how  some  would  enter  never 
to  come  out  again — only  to  sicken  and  die — 
suffering  all  the  pangs  that  can  be  inflicted  on 
both  body  and  soul ;  how  others  of  them  would 
in  time  be  turned  out  upon  a  cold  and  ruthless 
w^orld,  with  their  lives  blackened  and  blasted 
forever;  how  they  might  be  trained  and  brought 

[  127] 


up  to  make  useful  citizens,  a  credit  to  themselves 
and  an  ornament  to  society — as  he  contemplated 
this  contrast,  what  they  promised  to  be  and  what 
they  might  be,  his  heart  sank  with  pity  and  love, 
two  of  the  noblest  passions  that  has  ever  been 
planted  by  God  in  the  breast  of  man ;  such  pity 
and  love  for  those  children,  those  predestined 
felons,   as    aroused   the    noblest   instincts,    the 
truest  qualities,  and  the  best  energies  of  the 
man,  and  made  Gloucester  the  birthplace  and 
cradle,  and  Robert  Raikes  the  founder,  of  Sun- 
day-schools— the  grandest  institution,  the  most 
productive  of  good  of  any  that  has  ever  been 
devised  and  established  by  the  brain  and  genius 
of  man.     This  great  and  mighty  conception  has 
been  equaled  only  by  the  results  that  have  flowed 
and  are  to-day  flowing  from  it.     The  least  has 
felt  its  care,  and  the  greatest  have  acknowledged 
its  power.     It  has  become  world-great,  not  be- 
cause it  is  world-wide,  but  because  it  is  world- 
deep:  it  seized  down  upon  the  roots — the  chil- 
dren, the  future  men  of  all  mankind. 

Raikes  himself  styled  it  a  plan  for  the  reform 
of  the  rising  generation,  and  its  mission  is  the 

same  to-day.  He  began  his  work  by  hiring  four 

[128] 


female  teachers  at  one  shilling  per  Sunday.  All 
that  was  requisite  to  entitle  a  boy  to  scholarship 
was  clean  hands,  clean  face,  and  hair  combed. 
They  were  taught  to  be  kind  and  good-natured 
to  each  other,  not  to  provoke  one  another;  to  be 
dutiful  to  their  parents,  not  to  oflPend  God  by 
cursing  and  swearing— such  little,  plain  precepts 
which  all  may  understand.  They  were  told  of 
the  Creation  and  Deluge;  of  the  Tower  of  Babel 
and  the  Confusion  of  Tongues;  of  the  wicked- 
ness and  destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 
and  the  Avrath  of  God;  of  Abraham  and  Isaac; 
of  the  deceit  of  Jacob,  and  the  rise  of  Joseph 
in  Pharaoh's  land;  of  the  boldness  of  Daniel 
Godliness  of  Samuel;  of  the  love  of  David  and 
Jonathan,  and  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  and  the 
magnificence  of  his  Temple;  and  the  "  old,  old 
story  of  Jesus  and  his  love." 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  Sunday 
school — an  institution  which  has  been  and 
which  will  continue  to  be  fraught  with  future 
good  and  mercy  to  generations  yet  unborn. 

"  Once  by  the  river  side 

A  little  fountain  rose  : 
Now  like  the  Severn's  seaward  tide 
Round  the  broad  world  it  flows." 
Q  [  ^29  ] 


As  soon  as  Charles  Wesley  heard  of  the  work, 
he  exclaimed:  "Who  knows  but  some  of  these 
schools  may  become  nurseries  of  the  church." 
How  literally  have  his  expectations  been  ful- 
filled. The  Sunday-school  is  to  the  Church  of 
God  what  a  chapel  is  to  a  meeting-house. 
Through  the  door  of  the  Sunday-school  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  of  souls  have  entered  the 
church.  It  is  almost  incredible  with  what  ra- 
pidity this  little  grain  of  "  mustard  seed  " — 
this  teaching  of  precept  and  telling  of  Bible 
stories  by  four  women — spread  itself  over  Eng- 
land. In  less  than  five  years  there  were  three 
hundred  thousand  scholars  in  attendance  upon 
these  schools,  and  to-day  there  are  five  millions 
in  the  British  Kingdom.  One  town  had  a  school 
of  four  hundred  pupils,  when,  a  half-dozen  years 
before,  there  could  not  be  found  in  the  whole 
parish  but  one  Bible,  and  that  was  used  to  prop 
a  flower-pot.  In  the  same  school  there  was  a 
class  at  which  every  man  wore  spectacles. 

Adam  Smith,  the  great  economist,  said  at  the 
time:  "  No  plan  has  promised  to  effect  a  change 
of  manners  with  equal  ease  and  simplicity  since 
the  days  of  the  Apostles."     It  passed  along — 

[  130  ] 


from  land  to  land,  from  nation  to  nation,  from 
people  to  people — with  rapid  speed,  like  unto 
the  lightning  leaping  from  mountain  peak  to 
peak.  It  was  the  sudden  bursting  of  a  secret 
fountain.  It  was  simply  a  fulfillment  of  the 
commands  of  the  Bible,  as  given  in  Deute- 
ronomy ages  ago:  "Gather  the  people  together, 
men  and  women  and  children,  and  thy  stranger 
that  is  within  thy  gates,  that  they  may  hear,  and 
that  they  may  learn  and  fear  the  Lord  your 
God,  and  observe  to  do  all  the  works  of  this 
law."  Robt.  Raikes  was  sent  to  do  this  work — 
"  a  soul  on  highest  mission  sent." 

In  performing  this  task,  we  are  not  to  suppose 
he  met  with  no  difficulties  and  no  opposition 
simply  because  of  its  success.  He  did  meet 
opposers  and  great  opposition,  but  he  overcame 
it.  They  even  went  so  far  as  to  threaten  him 
with  arrest.  He  was  accused  of  breaking  the 
the  fourth  commandment  and  desecrating  the 
Sabbath.  As  then,  so  now,  those  who  opposed 
him  and  his  work,  did  so  for  the  want  of  en- 
lightenment and  knowledge,  the  lack  of  percep- 
tion, and  the  need  of  the  spirit  of  God,  or  for 
a  superabundance  of  the  devil  in  their  hearts. 


But  he  outlived  the  storm,  and  rode  upon  the 
waves  of  triumph,  beneath  which  his  drowned 
opposers  lay.  His  resisters  have  gone  down  to 
the  bottom  of  the  sea  of  a  world-wide  contempt 
and  malediction,  and,  in  spite  of  all  their  en- 
vious efforts,  the  whole  of  Christendom  heard 
of  Robert  Raikes  and  sounded  his  praises. 

Were  I  disposed  to  pronounce  an  eulogy  up- 
on any  one.  I  could  not  select  a  more  appro- 
priate person  than  this  noble-hearted  philan- 
thropist, this  lover  of  humanity,  this  founder 
of  Sunda3^-schools.  He  Avas  an  instructor  of 
the  ignorant  and  a  father  to  the  poor.  He  was 
possessed  of  an  unequaled,  inspiring,  moving, 
and  directing  power.  He  cast  sunlight  into  the 
shadow  of  many  a  life.  He  cast  and  forged  the 
well-being  and  destiny  of  whole  nations  and 
generations  by  delivering  them  from  their  bonds 
of  ignorance  and  wickedness,  and  an  acknow- 
ledgment of  gratitude  to  his  memory  fills  the 
breast  of  all  Christian  people. 

He  went  down  to  his  grave  amid  the  tears  of 
his  own  people  and  age,  where  he  peacefully 
lies  to-day  with  the  benedictions  of  posterity 
resting  upon  him.     That  grave  is  filled  by  one 

[  132  ] 


who  cannot  die.  .  His  light  is  destined  to  flame 
as  a  beacon  over  long  centuries  and  many 
epochs  in  the  history  of  mankind,  and  in  the 
slowly  rising  monument  of  a  world  redeemed 
to  goodness,  no  name  should  be  emblazoned  in 
larger  characters  or  grander  letters  than  that  of 
Robert  Raikes. 

The  work  has  been  commenced  and  the  peo- 
ple of  every  age  must  do  their  part  in  its  con- 
tinuance.    Everybody  should  attend  the  Sun- 
day-school, either  as  teacher  or  pupil,  from  the 
time  the  cradle  is  left  till  the  tomb  is  entered. 
I  know  the  responsibility  of  the  Sunday-school 
instructors  to  be  great.     Of  them  it  may  be  said 
with  almost  literal  truth:  "There  is  no  speech 
nor  language  where  their  voice  is   not  heard. 
Their  line  is  gone  out  through  all  the  earth,  and 
their  words  to  the  end  of  the  world."  But,  great 
as  is  the  responsibility,  they  will  find,  if  they 
have  done  their  duty,   when   they  have  wiped 
the  sweat  from  their   foreheads   and  the  tears 
from  their  eves,  that  their  reward  is  even  greater 
than  the  responsibility.  Just  what  is  their  duty  is 
somewhat  difficult    to    say.     There    are    many 
things,  both  spiritual  and  temporal,  that  they 

[  133  1 


should  look  after  and  teach;  while  the  prime 
object  should  tend  to  the  salvation  of  souls, 
there  are  other  matters  which  would  not  be 
amiss — matters  which  must  be  attended  to  be- 
fore the  Spirit  can  become  as  "  pure  as  waters 
welling  from  the  rock." 

The  Sunday-school  must  be  a  nursery  where 
youth's  love    of   truth  and   purity — its  bright 
hopes  and  precious  innocence — must  be  grown 
and  ripened  into  true  and  noble  manhood  and 
womanhood.  In  this  free  land  of  ours  our  young 
people  generally  have  their  own  way  to  make, 
and  nothing  to  make  it  with,  but  their  own  head 
and  hands.     I,  of  course,  except  the  girls;  they 
have  an    addition — their   pretty    faces.    Natu- 
rally they  are  early   thrown  upon  their  own  re- 
sources.    Now   I   take   it  that  at  the   Sunday- 
school   more    is  done  towards   the   shaping  of 
character,    fitting    it  for   the  duties  of  society 
and  business  life  than  anywhere  else.     I  main- 
tain that  the  success  and  existence  of  our  self- 
ruling  government  depends  upon  the   efficiency 
of  this  work.     Individuals  make  nations,   and 
unless  the  individuals  of  the  whole  people  be 
brought  up  in  the  path  of  intelligence  and  mo- 

[  134  ] 


rality  such  a  form  of  government  as  ours  cannot 
endure.  Already  a  malaria  of  infidelity  has 
floated  across  the  Atlantic  and  begins  to  infect 
the  pure  air  of  the  Western  continent. 

I  know  that  it  has  become  fashionable  with 
some  people  to  treat  God  as  a  mythical  Being, 
to  sneer  at  patriotism  as  a  worn  out  prejudice 
and  to  contemn  philanthropy  as  a  sentimental 
catchword.  Such  erroneous  invasions  and  damn- 
ing ideas  as  these  the  Sabbath-school  worker 
of  to-day  has  to  combat.  Sunday-school  work- 
ers teach  the  children  to  fear  and  love  the  God 
that  made  them,  and  to  stand  on  the  Bible — His 
holy  truth — though  they,  like  Luther,  stand 
solitary  and  friendless.  Teach  them  honor,  for 
with  honor  comes  self-respect  and  honesty.  Teach 
them  bravery,  for  with  true  bravery  comes  hum- 
bleness and  peacefulness.  Teach  them  patriot- 
ism, a  love  for  their  country,  a  care  for  its  posi- 
tion among  the  nations,  an  anxiety  for  its  honor, 
a  pride  in  its  renown,  and  to  glory  in  its  exalta- 
tion. Brush  the  cobwebs  of  ignorance  and  pre- 
judice from  their  eyes  and  let  them  grow  up  to 
be  free  men  and  women;  for  people  immersed 
in  ignorance  and  prejudice  are  less  free  than 

['35] 


wise  men  locked  in  dungeons  and  loaded  with 
chains.  Point  them  to  the  road  that  leads 
to  peace  and  comfort  here,  and  happiness  and 
heaven  hereafter.  Encourage  them  to  make 
their  lives  blessed,  their  actions  noble,  their 
souls  pure,  and  their  death  peaceful.  You  have 
the  formation  of  their  character,  enlarge  and 
ennoble  it.  Persuade  them  to  be  men  in  every 
sense  of  the  word.  In  the  Sunday-school  more 
than  in  any  other  place,  a  boy  is  to  be  encour- 
aged. Nothing  inspires  him  so  much  as  a  kind 
word  or  compliment  from  his  teacher.  Let  it 
be  instilled  into  them  to  do  that  which  they 
know  to  be  their  duty,  not  in  the  hope  of  ease, 
worldly  pleasures,  or  sugar  plums  of  any 
kind,  but  because  it  is  right,  noble,  and  manly; 
and  to  show  themselves  to  be  God-made  men. 
Such  inspirations  expand  and  exalt  the  soul. 
In  them  all  Christianity  is  emblemed.  Inspire 
the  children  of  your  land  with  such  ideas,  hopes, 
and  aims,  and  your  memory  in  this  world  will 
be  honored  with  tears,  and  when  you  stand  be- 
fore high  heaven,  you  will  rejoice  to  have  your 
deeds  ranked  among  the  most  glorious  achieve- 
ments  wrought  by  man.     A   rarer  gem   than 

[^36] 


that  which  will  encircle  your  brow  will  not  be 
found  in  that  day  when  "  the  Lord  of  Hosts 
shall  make  up  His  jewels." 

On  next  Sunday,  not  less  than  ten  million 
souls  will    meet  in   the   Sunday-school    cause. 
What  a  number!      The  mind  of   man  cannot 
grasp  and  realize  its  vastness.     They  will  meet 
in  every  land  of  Christendom— in  the  tropics 
and    in    the   Arctic    regions;    amid    the  snow- 
capped peaks  of  Newfoundland  and  among  the 
orange  bowers  of  Florida;  within  the  civiliza- 
tion of  Europe  and  on  the  plains  of  America; 
in  every  country,  amid  every  people,  and  withni 
all  nations  where  the  true  God   is  known  and 
worshipped.     And  these  millions  of  young  peo- 
ple will  carry  with  them  the  prayers  of  as  many 
older  ones.     Some  one  has  said,  "There  is  no 
greater  link  between  this  life  and  the  next  than 
God's  blessing  on  the  young  breathed  from  the 
lips  of  the   old."     Truly  these  meetings  of  the 
young  and  prayers  of  the  old,  over  the  face  of 
the  whole  world,  form  a  scene  which  causes  an- 
gels to  draw  aside  the  curtain  of   the  sky  and 
look  down  upon  it  with  wonder,  joy,  and  amaze- 
ment. 


Such  is  the  influence  that  the  Sunday-school 
has  exerted  and  exerts  to-day  over  mankind; 
and  its  future  career  will  be  no  less  brilliant 
and  powerful  than  its  past.     It  has  raised  mil- 
lions from  the  scum  and  filth  of  society  to  re- 
spectability, and  there  it  will  sustain  them.     It 
must  and  will  keep  the  masses  of  our  Ameri- 
can people  pure;  and,  with  this  assurance,  well 
may  the  beat  of  our  pulse  and  heart  grow  quicker 
when  we  think  upon  the  glorious  destiny  that 
awaits  us  as  individuals  and  as  a  nation.  Upon 
the  intelligence  and  purity  of  the  individuals 
of  the  masses  depend  our  success  and  happi- 
ness, and   it  is  the  lot  of  this  institution — the 
Sunday-school — to  preserve  and  nurture  them. 
It  will  not  fail  us!     It  cannot  fail  us!     With 
the  Saviour  of  man  to  direct  its  course,  it  will 
continue  on  its  march  of  conquest,  and  will  at 
last  be  crowned  with  success  in  the  redemption 
of  a  fallen  world. 

^biiress  of  tiJclcome. 

Patriarchs  of  the  Grand  Encainpment  of  the 
State  of  North  Carolina :  In  the  name  of  our 
people,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Patriarchs  of 

r  138] 


Salem  Encampment,  it  affords  me  great  plea- 
sure to  extend  to  you   a  kindly  greeting  and 
most  cordial  welcome  to  the  city  of  Winston. 
She  feels   herself  honored  by  being   permitted 
to   welcome    the    representatives   of    an   order 
which,  although  less  than  a  century  old,  to-day 
stands  second  to  no  other  association  of  a  similar 
character  in  the  world,  embracing  in  its  member- 
ship some  of  the  best  types  of  American  man- 
hood, and  with  a  record  of  having  given  in  bene- 
fits and  charity  millions  upon  millions  of  dollars. 
Our  people  know  that  Odd  Fellowship  is  rear- 
ing a  grand  and  magnificent  temple  upon  an 
indestructible  foundation  of  true  friendship  and 
brotherly  love;  they  know  that  victorious  ban- 
ners of  war  and  conquest  will  never  hang  upon 
its  walls;  they  know  that  the  tread  of  the  rich 
and  powerful  will  never  fall  upon  its  fioors;  but 
they  know  that   in  every  nook  and  corner  and 
crevice  of  this  temple,  from  turret  to  dome,  will 
be  found  a  power  to  protect  and  a  courage  to 
defend  the  friendless  and  helpless,  the  widow 
and  the  orphan.     The  sun  will  refuse  to  shine 
before  good  old    motherly,   steady  Salem,  and 
3'oung,  generous,  and  enthusiatic  Winston  fail 

[  ^39  J 


to  give  a  hearty  welcome  to  men  enlisted  in  a 
cause  so  noble  and  unselfish. 

When  I  say  that  you  are  sincerely  welcomed 
within  the  walls  of  this  Encampment,  I  but  re- 
echo the  sentiment  and  express  the  fraternal 
love  that  throbs  within  the  heart  of  every  Pa- 
triarch in  our  midst.  We  have  all  looked  for- 
ward to  this  meeting  with  pleasant  anticipa- 
tions, expecting  new  life  to  be  inspired  into  us 
and  expecting  to  learn  more  and  more  of  the 
value  of  our  principles.  We  want  to  be  en- 
couraged to  live  up  to  the  principles  of  our  or- 
der. By  every  bed  of  sickness,  at  every  grave, 
in  every  home  made  desolate  by  death  in  this 
city  of  Winston-Salem,  we  want  an  Odd  Fellow 
to  be  found  doing  the  noble  work  of  Odd  Fel- 
lowship. 

Trusting  that  your  sojourn  among  us  will  be 
agreeable  to  yourselves  and  profitable  to  us,  in 
the  name  of  Winston-Salem,  and  in  the  name 
of  every  Odd  Fellow  and  Patriarch  in  our  com- 
munity, I  again  bid  you  welcome,  and  when  the 
time  comes  to  say  farewell,  we  hope  that  only 
pleasant  memories  of  your  visit  may  accompany 
you  to  your  homes. 

Umo  ] 


a  piea  for  (Kqualitg  of  OTontest. 

It  is  said  of  the  eloquent  and  lamented  Henry 
Grady  that  it  was  not  his  practice  to  prepare 
and  commit  to  writing  his  speeches,  but  that  he 
depended  solely  upon  the  inspiration  of  the  mo- 
ment and  the  occasion.  I  would  give  the  mil- 
lions of  Jay  Gould,  were  they  mine  to  give,  for 
the  ability  to  express,  in  the  eloquent  words  and 
terms  of  Henry  Grady,  the  thoughts  with  which 
I  have  been  inspired  since  sitting  upon  this  ros- 
trum. I  am  made  to  long  the  more  for  such 
gifts  since  I  am  to  attempt  to  speak  after  the 
delivery  of  the  magnificent  orations  that  have 
been  pronounced  in  your  hearing  to-day. 

But,  alas!  such  gifts  are  vouchsafed  to  but 
few  individuals;  and  whatever  sentiments  I  may 
have  to  utter  must  be  such  as  come  to  me,  as  it 
were,  in  cold  blood.  For  the  possession  of  these 
two  medals  there  has  been  a  spirited  and  heated 
contest  waged,  and  the  greatest  compliment 
that  can  be  paid  the  successful  contestants  is 
to  point  to  the  contestants  over  whom  they  have 
won  their  victory.  From  such  contests  many 
useful  and  valuable  lessons  may  be  drawn,  for, 

[141] 


from  this  time  forth,  those  of  you  who  are  leav- 
ing the  school-room,  forever  more,  will  find  that 
life  is  a  contest. 

I  desire  to  direct  your  attention  to  the  fact 
that  in  the  contest  just  closed,  all  the  con- 
testants, in  so  far  as  human  power  could  control, 
stood  upon  an  equality.  This  was  positively 
necessar}^,  or  you  would  have  rebelled. 

Now,  I  make  the  point,  that  in  the  contest  of 
life,  it  is  infinitely  essential  that  all  people,  in 
so  far  as  it  is  humanly  possible,  shall  stand 
upon  an  absolute  equality;  and,  with  3^our  kind 
permission  and  indulgence,  I  will  offer  a  few 
thoughts  along  this  line  that  may,  and,  I  hope, 
will,  prove  a  source  of  reflection  for  you  here- 
after, and  help  you  to  fill  your  place  in  the 
world,  which  you  are  about  to  take,  with  profit 
and  pleasure  to  youself  and  those  among  whom 
your  lot  may  be  cast. 

One  hundred  years  ago  Thomas  Jefferson 
wrote  in  the  great  Declaration  of  Independence 
that  "  all  men  are  created  equal."  That  thought 
flashed  like  a  streak  of  lightning  over,  above, 
across,  and  into  all  Christendom.  Kings, 
Queens  and  Emperors  were  smitten  and  para- 

[  142] 


lyzed,  many  of  them,  even  unto  death;  thrones 
trembled,  tottered  and  fell.     It  was   genius  to 
create  such  a  thought;  and  for  a  century  civi- 
lized man  has  been  content  with  the  simple  as- 
sertion.    But  the  time  is  fast  coming  when  the 
people   shall    not   only   declare   that   men    are 
created  equal,  but  they  will  demand  that  men 
be  kept  equal.     The  generation  that  has  just 
passed  declared  men  equal.     It  is  the  lot  of  this 
generation  to  devise  ways   and  means  to  keep 
men  equal.     In  so  far  as  it  is  possible  and  prac- 
tical, it  is    a   "consummation    devoutly  to   be 
hoped  for."     Though  the  grasp  of  the  tyrant 
and  ruler  has  been  torn,  during  the  last  century, 
from  the  necks  of  the  people  by  Jefferson  and 
his  compatriots,  they  have  not   abolished  pov- 
erty and  want.     In  the  past  century,  as  in  no 
other,  monstrous  wealth  has  been  piled  mountain 
hidi,  but  its  division  and  distribution  has  been 
sadly  at  fault.     While  in  principle  it  is  admitted 
that  men  are  created  equal,  in  practice  they  are 
not  kept  equal.  Among  the  masses,  everywhere, 
there  is  said  to  be  a  feeling  of  unrest,  and  that 
is   attributable   to  the  unequal   distribution   of 
wealth.     The  vast  gulf  between    the  rich  and 

[  143  ] 


the  poor  is  deepening  every  day.     It  is  alleged 
that  the  whole  agricultural  and  industrial  world 
is  enslaved  by  legislation  in  favor  of  gigantic 
private  trusts  and  monopolies.     But,  whatever 
condition  of  affairs  may  exist  in  other  countries, 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try— the  great  middle  class,  in  whose  veins  run 
not  Anglo-Saxon  blood,  not  French  blood,  not 
German  blood,  not  Italian  blood,  nor  the  blood 
of  the  Scandinavian,  but  that  new,  distinct  and 
incomparable  blood — the  American  blood — are 
not  ready  to  submit  to  that  condition  of  things 
which  gives  to  one  set  of  men  and  women  pur- 
ple and  fine  linen,  lace  and  silken  skirts,  and  to 
the  other  wretchedness  and  poverty.     How  to 
keep   men  equal?     That  is  the  question  of  the 
day.     The  United  States  has  had  an  existence  of 
little  more  than  one  hundred  years.     They  have 
had  no  tyrannical  forms  of  government.     The 
nation  when  but  an  infant  shook  from  the  head 
of  the  King  of  England  his   crown,  and  tram- 
pled it  under  foot.     We  have  not  been  taxed  to 
support    royalty.     In  all  our  governmental  af- 
fairs the  voice  of  the  people  has  been  heard  and 
heeded  and  has  controlled,  as  in  no  other  gov- 

[  144  ] 


ernment,  from  the  beginning  of  time;  and  never 
has  a  nation  so  grown.  We  have  broadened, 
widened  and  deepened;  accumulated,  gathered 
together  and  piled  up  as  no  people  ever  did  be- 
fore. We  have  gone  through  and  experienced 
the  dangers  and  horrors  of  civil  war,  the  most 
terrible  and  fearful  of  modern  times.  Instead 
of  its  being  a  check  to  the  great  North  and 
Northwest,  it  seemed  to  be  a  powerful  incentive 
to  their  growth.  But  to  the  South  it  was  a  hard 
blow — a  blow  from  which  she  has  not  yet  re- 
covered. 

For  thirty  years  the  South  has  sat  sad  and 
disconsolate  amid  the  ashes  of  her  ruin  in  storm 
and  darkness,  under  the  deep  execration  of  many 
of  the  Northern  brethren.  Thirty  years  ago 
there  were  young  men  upon  these  grounds  oc- 
cupying the  same  positions  you  occupy;  they 
had  the  same  aspirations  and  the  same  hopes 
that  you  to-day  have.  But  their  country  called 
them  away  from  their  friends,  their  relatives, 
their  homes,  their  sweethearts — from  their 
hopes  and  their  ambitions — to  the  battlefield. 
Many  of  them  went  never  to  return,  and  long, 
long  ago   the  last  of  their  bones  bleached  and 

[  H5  ] 


mouldered  away  into  dust  in  the  valleys  and 
among  the  hills  of  Virginia.  After  four  long 
and  weary  years  others  returned  to  their  homes 
to  find  father  and  mother  impoverished  and 
broken-hearted;  friends  gone;  homes  empty; 
fields  uncultivated;  poverty  on  every  hand. 
The  State,  under  military  rule,  destined  to  soon 
pass  into  even  worse  hands — the  hands  of 
the  carpet-bagger.  Fire  and  sword  had  done 
their  work.  But  depressing  as  the  times  were 
the  rebel  soldiers,  and  the  old  men  who  had 
stayed  at  home  and  provided  them  with  suste- 
nances while  they  fought  their  countr3^'s  battles, 
manfully  set  to  work  to  rebuild  the  waste  places, 
with  apologies  for  nobody,  without  capital  and 
without  credit,  enforced  bankrupts,  beset  on 
every  hand  by  the  prejudices  and  animosities 
of  the  people  of  the  North.  For  twenty-five 
years  the  South  has  been  fighting  to  gain  and 
maintain  the  position  among  the  States  of  these 
United  States,  and  among  the  nations  of  the 
world,  that  her  natural  advantages  and  the 
character  of  her  people  entitle  her  to.  I  am 
here  to-day  to  tell  you  that  though  defeated  in 
war,  she  has  won  the  nobler  victory  of  peace. 

[  146  ] 


The  tide  of  prosperity  is  upon  us.  Every  rill 
is  swelling  into  a  branch,  every  branch  into  a 
stream,  every  stream  into  a  river,  and  we  are 
rapidly  sailing  into  the  great  sea  of  industrial 
development.  The  whole  South  is  awakening  and 
is  destined  to  become  in  no  great  while,  the  abode 
of  vast  populations  of  people  and  of  great  wealth, 
because  of  its  climate,  soils,  minerals,  coal, 
and  wood.  Northwestern  North  Carolina  and 
Southwestern  Virginia  are  destined  to  be  the 
garden  spots.  It  is  certain  that  we  have  borne 
all  the  hardships  of  poverty,  and  the  signs  of 
the  time  beyond  question  point  to  the  fact  that 
this  very  section  of  country  in  which  we  live 
will  become  immensely  wealthy.  Then  the 
question  must  naturally  present  itself  to  every 
thoughtful  mind,  how  shall  we  grow?  Some 
growth  is  worse  than  no  growth  at  all.  If  we 
are  wise  we  will  learn  the  history  of  other  people 
and  of  other  portions  of  these  United  States 
and  profit  by  their  experience.  Though  history 
has  no  parallel  to  the  generation  upon  whose 
final  decade  we  have  now  entered,  nor  have  the 
centuries  a  duplicate  to  ours,  now  so  near  its 
wane.     Walk   into   a  city    church  to-day,  and 

[  147] 


hear  the  minister  discourse  on  politics  and  the 
general  topics  of  the  day,  or  listen  to  the  music 
of  trained  voices  chanting  the  glories  of  God  in 
operatic  splendor,  and  you  will  see  and  hear 
much  that  eloquently  bespeaks  the  difference 
between  the  worship  of  the  Creator  to-day,  and 
that  taught  in  the  old  log  meeting-house,  in  the 
simple  rules  of  the  circuit-rider  fifty  years  ago. 
If  there  is  to  come  upon  us  that  flood  of  popu- 
lation and  wealth  that  is  so  confidently  expected, 
are  we  prepared  or  are  we  going  to  prepare  our- 
selves to  give  them  a  proper  reception?  There 
are  many  old  things  which  we  will  have  to  give 
up:  and  many  new  things  which  we  will  have 
to  accept.  But,  in  the  meantime,  it  behooves  us 
to  consider  the  old  things  that  we  will  part  with, 
and  the  new  matter  we  will  accept.  Then  we 
are  to  consider  whether  we  are  to  assimilate  or 
be  assimilated.  Whether  we  are  to  receive  the 
newcomers,  or  the  new  comers  to  crowd  us  out 
of  doors.  Whether  our  ideas  of  policy  and  gov- 
ernment, morals  and  religion,  are  to  continue, 
or  if  they  must  give  way  to  ideas,  prevailing  in 
other  portions  of  the  country,  which  we  believe 
to  be  harmful  and  erroneous.    Shall  we  swallow 

[  h8  ] 


the  golden  calf  or  allow  the  golden  calf  to  swal- 
low us?  In  New  England,  it  is  said,  that  not  one- 
half  of  the  operatives  of  the  factories  speak  the 
English  language.  It  was  not  until  after  the 
native  New  Englander  had  been  driven  from 
his  work  by  having  his  place  filled  by  the  pau- 
per of  the  old  world,  that  Horace  Greeley  gave 
the  advice  ''young  man,  go  West."  The  advice 
to-day  is  being  changed  to  "  young  man,  go 
South."  In  the  great  State  of  Pennsylvania  the 
farmers  and  their  sons  used  to  come  down  from 
the  mountain-sides,  and  up  from  the  valleys, 
and  work  the  coal  and  iron  mines;  but  that  is 
so  no  more.  Great  corporations  have  been 
formed,  the  mines  have  passed  into  the  hands 
of  immense  monopolies,  who  work  them  with 
the  poorest  classes  of  Italians,  Hungarians,  and 
Scandinavians  upon  starvation  wages,  and  when- 
ever these  poor  ignorant  foreigners  strike  for 
better  pay,  they  are  shot  down  by  hireling  sol- 
diers. Not  soldiers  of  the  State,  but  of  private 
corporations.  That  is  a  piece  of  tyranny  that  a 
heartless  king  would  not  allow. 

If  these  statements  be  true,  then  these  States 
have  failed  to  keep  men  equal,  and  they  have 

[  149] 


fallen  into  a  grievous  error.  Now,  is  it  not  our 
duty,  as  North  Carolina  is  about  to  enter  upon 
an  era  of  industrial  development — about  to 
change  from  an  agricultural  to  a  manufacturing 
people — to  avoid  the  pitfalls  into  which  other 
Commonwealths  have  fallen — to  prevent,  as  far 
as  in  us  lies,  the  aggregation  of  immense  wealth 
in  the  hands  of  the  few,  but  to  keep  wealth  as 
evenly  distributed  as  possible.  Our  form  of  gov- 
ernment is  founded  on  the  individual,  and  the 
individual  has  to  contend  with  other  individuals 
for  the  very  ground  on  which  he  stands  and  the 
very  air  which  he  breathes.  We  want  it  to  re- 
main so.  When  an  individual,  by  force  of  will, 
solidity  of  character,  steadiness  of  purpose, 
sincerity  of  aim,  by  economy,  perseverance,  en- 
ergy, by  using  the  talents  with  which  the  great 
God  has  endowed  him,  wrests  a  fortune  from 
the  world,  the  true  and  genuine  American  is 
ready  to  stand  up  and  applaud  that  man.  It 
is  the  fact  that  the  individual  is  given  full  and 
free  scope  for  all  his  faculties,  that  has  made  us 
the  greatest  people  and  the  greatest  nation  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth.  It  is  because  of  the  un- 
restricted privileges  given  the  individual  that 

[150I 


all  the  elements  of  nature  have  been  gathered 
together  and  made  to  subserve  the  purposes  of 
man.  It  is  the  taming  of  the  elements  of  na- 
ture that  has  driven  us  so  far  ahead  of  all  men 
and  all  times.  It  has  made  us  the  moderns. 
All  others  behind  this  century  are  the  ancients. 
In  base-ball  parlance,  "we  are  the  people,"  and 
we  are  the  nation  of  the  future.  Here  our  great- 
est danger  lies:  it  is  in  the  suppression  of  the 
indvidual.  The  tendency  of  the  times  is  toward 
corporations,  combines,  trusts,  combinations — 
all  this  means  death  to  the  indvidual.  When- 
ever any  set  of  men  combine  and  conspire  to- 
gether for  the  purpose  of  giving  themselves  an 
undue  and  an  unfair  advantage  over  their 
neighbors  and  their  fellow-men,  it  is  wrong, 
and  I  do  not  care  by  what  name  you  call  it  or 
where  it  exists.  Corporation  is  one  thing,  con- 
spiration is  another.  In  the  social  and  political 
warfare  that  is  surely  coming  upon  us,  North 
Carolina  must  look  to  the  young  men  who  are 
being  educated  in  her  schools  of  learning,  and 
she  needs  to  have  every  one  of  them  educated. 
Man  to-day  is  smarter  than  ever  before.  His 
mentality  is  more  vigorous  and  trulv  magnifi- 

[151] 


cent.  In  times  gone  by,  if  a  man  had  a  pur- 
pose to  accomplish  and  encountered  opposition 
he  met  that  opposition  by  force  and  won  his  vic- 
tory by  blows  and  a  fight.  To-day  opposition  is 
encountered,  and  it  is  met  by  smiles,  compli- 
ments are  lavished  profusely  upon  you,  all  of 
which  only  means  that  your  head  isbeing  greased 
that  you  ma}^  the  more  easily  be  swallowed. 

The  educated,  thinking  young  men  of  the 
State  must  hold  the  balance  of  power.  On  one 
side  we  shall  have  the  ranting  demagogue  de- 
claiming about  the  tyranny  of  capitalists,  and 
on  the  other  side  we  shall  have  the  oily  lobb3dst 
grasping  after  the  rights  and  franchises  of  the 
people,  that  he  may  coin  them  into  gold  to 
satisfy  his  insatiate  greed. 

Our  3'onng  men  need  to  be  possessed  of  a 
genuine  and  patriotic  Americanism.  They 
should  be  politicians,  but  not  office-seekers. 
They  should  know  how  to  stand  between  these 
opposing  factions,  and  how  to  cope  with  them. 
They  should  know  that  nothing  but  the  eternal 
principles  of  truth  and  right,  founded  upon  the 
rock  bed  of  justice,  and  imbedded  in  the  hearts 
and  minds  and  consciences  of  the  whole  people, 

[152] 


can  maintain  our  system  of  government.  They 
should  know  that  the  finest  talents,  the  great- 
est executive  abilities,  are  always  and  continu- 
ousl}^  with  ingenuity,  cunningness,  ability,  ex- 
perience, and  unscrupulousness,  reaching  out 
and  after  means  by  which  the  people  may  be 
made  to  fill  the  coffers  of  the  great  corporations 
of  the  country.  They  should  be  taught  to  dis- 
tinguish and  discriminate  between  the  senseless 
and  indiscriminate  clamor  against  corporations 
that  have  souls  and  those  that  have  them  not. 

There  are  men  in  this  county  and  men  in  my 
own  county  of  Forsyth  that  staked  their  private 
fortunes  in  corporations  for  the  public  good. 
The  men  who  built  the  Cape  Fear  and  Yadkin 
Valley  railroad,  and  those  who  are  now  building 
the  Roanoke  and  Southern,  are  public  benefac- 
tors and  deserve  the  commendation  and  grati- 
tude of  the  people.  What  we  need  is  wise  men 
and  not  fools — men  of  equal  minds  and  not 
middle-headed  partisans — men  who  can,  and 
will,  discriminate,  and  not  condemn  all  alike 
without  rhyme  or  reason. 

It  will  be  the  part  of  the  rising  generation  to 
counsel  patience,   to   have  respect   for  vested 

[153] 


rights,  law  and  order,  always  keeping  in  view 
the  grand  and  glorious  truth,  that  all  men  are 
created  equal,  and  should  be  kept  equal. 

In  the  contest  for  these  medals  you  demanded 
that  the  contest  should  be  equal ;  surely,  in  the 
contest  of  life,  to  your  fellow-man,  you  will  ac- 
cede as  much  and  exact  as  much. 


[154] 


CHloaiug  ISeflections. 

What  is  well,  itself  well  done,  is  always  well, 

And  'tis  well  with  him,  forever  well  who  did  it. 

His  body  may  in  silence  lie  beneath  the  sod ; 

The  passive  hands  may  mold,  the  feet  to  dust  resolve, 

The  brains  subside  in  clay,  the  tissued  bones  decay. 

The  heart  no  pulse  produce,  nor  warmth  of  love  display, 

The  listless  ear,  the  frozen  tongue,  beyond  response; 

Ambition,  hope,  desire,  love,  beauty,  strength,  all  gone. 

To  utter  death  and  darkness  gone — in  semblance  lost; — 

But  nay  !  there's  nothing  lost,  but  all  well  stored  and  kept — 

A  treasure  worthy  of  the  golden  key  of  heav'n ; 

Nor  war,  nor  fire,  nor  flood,  nor  storm,  nor  quaking  earth 

Can  e'er  disturb,  or  mar,  or  wreck  the  rich  estate. 

A  noble  life  enduring  stands  eternal. 

Its  rising  fabic  cannot  be  o'erthrown. 

But  in  majestic  order,  its  lofty  spire. 

Baptized  with  flame  divine,  and  decked  in  heav'nly  grace, 

Ascends  beyond  the  sun,  and  resplendent  shines, 

Unwaning  as  the  spheres  which  light  the  Throne  of  God. 

A  Friend. 


[■55] 


sour*         ,>LiKOiECT 


PAGE. 

Prefatory ^ 

Introduction ^ 

His  Home  Life ' 

As  a  Christian 11 

Amiability 12 

His  Unpretentiousness 15 

Love  for  His  Kinsmen 16 

An  Incident 1^ 

Firmness 1^ 

As  a  Man  of  Business 20 

Literature 22 

Mayoralty 24 

Ordeals  of  His  Administration 26 

Winston  Fires 27 

Additional  Facts  Connected  with  His  Public  Career  ...  29 

His  Last  Sickness 36 

His  Death 39 

Concerning  His  Speeches 41 

Conclusion 43 

His  Boyhood 44 

An  Incident  and  a  Prophecy 49 

His  Death — Touching  Comments,  &c 60 

[157] 


PAGE. 

His  Death  and  the  Funeral  Obsequies 52 

Memoir  Read  by  His  Pastor,  Rev.  Edward  Crosland  ...  58 

Resolutions  Passed  By  the  Board  of  Aldermen 63 

Proceedings  of  the  Winston  Bar 64 

Hon  E.  B.  Jones's  Tribute  to  his  Character 66 

In  Memoriam 70 

Resolutions  of  Winston  Chamber  of  Commerce 72 

Proceedings  Salem  Lodge,  I.  0.  0.  F 72 

Proceedings  of  Encampment  No.  20, 1.  O.  0.  F 74 

Memorial  Grand  Lodge,  I.  O.  0.  F 76 

Press  Comment— Oak  Leaf 80 

Raleigh  North  Carolinian 81 

Durham  Sun 82 

The  Moravian 83 

Personal  Letters — Mr.  George  Rights 83 

Mr.  E.  H.  Wilson 84 

Mr.  J.  H.  Lindsay 85 

Mr.  Charles  D.  Mclvor 87 

Personal  Mention 88 

Apologetic 89 

The  Boy— Speech  Delivered  Before  Mrs.  Right's  School 

for  Children 90 

Future  of  Piedmont,  N.  C 105 

Delivery  of  Medals— Davis  School 121 

Sunday-School  Address 126 

Address  of  Welcome 138 

A  Plea  for  Equality  of  Contest 141 

Closing  Reflections 154 

[  158  ] 


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